CommUNITY Alliance

STERLING HEIGHTS CommUNITY Alliance Minutes of Wednesday, May 19, 2021 Meeting Locatio n: Community Center Teen Room Members Present: Stacy Bahri, Tim Doppel, Richard Harris, Sara Itoh, Lea Mitchell, Nakia Powell-Thomas Members Absent: Piedad Mantinan Representing the City: Melanie Davis Guests: Tylene Henry, SWOT Consultant Meeting called to order at 6 p.m. APPROVAL OF MINUTES : Motion to approve the meeting minutes of the April 21, 2021 CommUNITY Alliance made by Doppel; Seconded by: Powell-Thomas Ayes: all Nays: none AGENDA ITEMS: A. Cultural Exchange / Pride Month  M. Davis shared with the group the opportunity for having a free display table at the City’s June 18 Cultural Exchange and asked if the group would like to take advantage of that, and if so, who would be able to volunteer to staff the table for the evening. The group agreed to participate, and Mitchell and Bahri said they could help staff the table.  We can possibly do a Facebook post to “introduce” the group to the community and tell them to “meet them” at the Cultural Exchange.  June includes National Immigrant Heritage Month, Pride Month and Juneteenth, so we will work to include those into our handouts, etc. B. SWOT Analysis  The group engaged in a SWOT analysis relevant to the group’s mission of making sure all residents feel welcome, accepted, respected and safe. A complete follow-up report was shared with the group by consultant Tylene Henry.   The group talked about the long-term goal of “what does a unified Sterling Heights look like, and how do we measure that?” as well as creating a communications plan that could include a survey that asked residents what our community has in common as well as production of a quarterly broadcast show and/or podcast.  The group also talked about shorter-term actionable items including: o Including our “volunteer list” for this commission to begin engaging them right away. o Reviewing upcoming event opportunities. o Creating a calendar of key cultural events we can share out with residents. o Reviewing demographics for the city – can we get a guest speaker from SEMCOG for one of our upcoming meetings? o Personal goals from each member at the June meeting so we can discuss how we can engage City leadership into those initiatives. OLD BUSINESS:  There was no old business at this time. NEW BUSINESS :  There was no new business at this time. ADJOURNMENT : On a motion from Doppel and a second from Harris, the meeting was adjourned at 7:46 p.m. NEXT CommUNITY Alliance MEETING: Wednesday, June 16 , 2021 @ 6 p.m. in the Community Center Seminar Room 2 (upstairs).