Human Relations Commission

Human Relations Commission Monday, November 27, 2023 6:30pm Location: Village Hall, 5127 Oakton Street – Lunchroom (1st Floor) In Attendance: Commissioners: Deborah Arnold, Sheryl Bloom Basile, Alexander Chaparro, Sheila Crumrine (vice-chair), David Donegan, Krishna Goyal, Marcos Levy, Joseph Meyers, Maria Monastero Bueno (chair), Jeremy Segall, James Specker, Trustee Khem Khoeun; Skokie Staff Liaison: Amanda Sabri Not in Attendance: Anthony Agee (E) Jonathan Lavin (E), Swarupa Pahan (E), Ralph Ruebner (E), Karen Sherman, Mayha Syed (E). I. Commission Potluck: 6:30pm II. Call to Order: 7:20pm III. Approval of Agenda A. Sheryl Bloom Basile motioned to approve the agenda, motion seconded by Deborah Arnold. IV. Approval of Minutes of October 23, 2023 A. Sheryl Bloom Basile motioned to approve the minutes as written, motion seconded by Deborah Arnold. V. Committee Reports A. Neighbor Engagement Committee 1. Block Party Forum, Awards, Promotion a) Alex Chaparro reported that he reached out via phone, text and email to all individuals who had indicated that they wanted to apply for the Block Party of the Year Award and five responded with submissions. Timing is on track for the Block Party Forum to be held on 2/27/24 from 6pm – 8pm. It will hopefully be held at the Skokie Public Library but they do not allow for reservations this far in advance. Officer Wilken has confirmed his availability. Amanda Sabri will follow-up with the Village Manager’s office to determine when the Block Party Awards can be added to the agenda of a Village Board of Trustee’s meeting. b) Amanda Sabri presented a slide show of the five Block Party of the Year Award applicants. Commissioners each voted on their top three choices and the selected winners were: (1) 3500 Arcadia St (2) 4600 Grove St (3) 4600 Elm Terrace 1  2. Know your Neighbor: No updates. 3. 4th of July Parade: Alex Chaparro reported that the committee has discussed the need for increased commissioner participation. It was also discussed that a QR code for block party applications would be helpful. The idea was raised about having the QR code on a sticker that is attached to a sucker, pinwheel or necklace that could be handed out. It was also discussed that an alternative to QR codes may be helpful for those who are not able to use them (such as web address). B. Housing Committee Updates 1. Housing Subcommittee a) The Housing Subcommittee has had two meetings on October 23 and November 7. Jonathan Lavin provided an update via email, which Amanda Sabri read to the commission. He reported that the subcommittee is seeking themes to build the revised chapter on housing. In particular, they are discussing how values and principles can be challenged by new types of situations related to housing. Committee members were requested to continue to assign comments to themes that they had begun to list. b) Trustee Khem Khoeun provided an update that the Village Board recently voted on the Inclusionary Housing Ordinance and it did not pass. She stated that the Village Board still believes in the principles of affordable housing and believes that we should have something in place to support affordable housing but they are still working on an agreement of what the details will need to look like. Trustee Khoeun provided some of the discussion and data that has gone into their decision-making process. 2. Fair Housing Ordinance: No updates. C. Equity and Diversity Committee Updates 1. Early Intervention Hate/Bias Incidents: Trustee Khem Khoeun provided an update that two meetings were held in November. One meeting was held with Village staff and Professor Brian Levin of California State University, who is very knowledgeable about data tracking and is involved in many of the conversations around the country regarding tracking of hate & bias incidents. The second meeting was held with Detective Martinez of the LA Police Department who was able to share what has worked well and what hasn’t worked well in hate crime and bias incident reporting in the LA Police Department. Trustee Khoeun explained that it was decided at this time it may be too soon to bring the program to the commission but staff will begin evaluating how we collect data and consider alternate options of data collection and reporting. David Donegan inquired if any other local municipalities have a similar process. Trustee Khoeun responded that the City of Chicago & Cook County have a Hate Crimes Task Force or something similar but no other municipalities have a similar initiative as far as she is aware. David Donegan also inquired about the Village’s available data systems. Trustee Khoeun explained that Skokie PD is currently tracking hate crime & hate bias incidents. Detective Martinez also had additional data 2  points that Skokie PD may consider incorporating into their data tracking. Amanda Sabri also reported that the Village does have a system that is used for the intake and tracking of data and could likely be used for this purpose as well. James Specker inquired about how hate crime and hate or bias incidents are defined. Trustee Khoeun explained that the definition of a Hate Crime is very specific and a crime has to occur, while a hate or bias incident is something that falls short of meeting the definition of a hate crime. Often times the distinction is not clear to the average person and the police must investigate the incident and make this decision. James Specker commented that he is on the Police Use of Force Commission and it was discussed at their meetings that a disproportionate number of calls are made to police dispatch to report on Black youth. He inquired if this call would be counted as a bias incident due to the nature of the call. Trustee Khoeun reported that this has not previously been brought forth and thanked James for adding this to the discussion. Personal and community experiences of bias and discrimination were discussed by commissioners. It was suggested that the commission could possible host trainings or discussions on implicit bias for the community. 2. Black History Month: Sheila Crumrine updated the commission that she met with Ella Whitehead, Assistant Director of Enrollment for Equity Outreach at Oakton College, and Janeen Jackson, Equity Coordinator for Black Student Success at Oakton College, on November 2nd. They had a constructive conversation and brainstorming session. Oakton has plans to celebrate Black History Month 2024 during the week of February 18-22. The highlight of their week is the presence on the Des Plaines campus of Adrian Miller, author of many books including Soul Food: The Surprising Story of an American Cuisine. A discussion was held regarding whether the commission would like to financially co-sponsor Adrian Miller’s trip and honorarium and have a local Skokie reading group of his book as well as possibly live stream of the event at the Skokie Oakton campus. It was decided that since his main presence will be at the Des Plaines campus, it would not be a good fit for the Human Relations Commission. Sheila then gave an overview of the events Skokie Public Library is hosting for Black History Month. There was a discussion of the commission sponsoring one of the movies that the library is planning to host this year and whether it was appropriate to partner with the library this year, when the events are already planned, or if it would be better to start a more collaborative planning process with them now to plan something for 2025. It was determined that it would be best for the Diversity Committee to work on a collaborative approach to a developing a program for 2025. Sheila and the committee will continue to work with the Skokie Public Library and the larger Skokie community on these efforts. 3. Unite Against Racism w/ YWCA: Sheila Crumrine provided an update that she spoke with Heather Sweeney, who has taken over for Eileen Heinemann as the coordinator for this event. She reports that the event will be in April 2024 but a date has not been set. They expect to make some changes to the usual rally and discussion format but the finalized details are not yet available. More details will be available after January. 3  4. Skokie Festival of Cultures: No Updates. 5. Skokie Juneteenth: No Updates. 6. Skokie Pride: Sheila Crumrine provided an update that she spoke with Cassey Schaffer at the Skokie Park District and the event will be taking place on June 23, 2024 from 1-4pm. Planning will begin in January and there may be a small fee for table registration. 7. SEED Training: David Donegan provided an update that they are hoping to increase promotion of the SEED program among Village staff and commissioners for the next cohort. VI. Other Items of Business A. Village Seal Redesign: Maria Monastero Bueno reported that the Village Seal Committee met today and there were 9 applications submitted by design firms and/or individual artists. The committee decided on 4 artists/firms who will be requested to come in for short presentations and interviews with the committee in early January 2024. B. Commissioners were reminded of a Cookie Walk and Coffee Mug campaign benefiting Skokie Community Foundation, as well as the HHS Assist-A-Family Program. VII. Adjourn: 9:10pm 4