CommUNITY Alliance

STERLING HEIGHTS CommUNITY Alliance Minutes of Wednesday, August 18 , 2021 Meeting Location: Sterling Heights City Hall Conference Room 020 Members Present: Stacy Bahri, Sara Itoh, Ricardo Harris, Lea Mitchell, Nakia Powell-Thomas, Rich Rubba Members Absent: Tim Doppel Representing the City: Melanie Davis Meeting called to order at 6 :12 p.m. APPROVAL OF MINUTES : Motion to approve the meeting minutes of the July 28, 2021 CommUNITY Alliance made by R. Harris; Seconded by: R. Rubba Ayes: all Nays: none AGENDA ITEMS: A. Communication from Citizens – there was no communication from citizens at this time. B. Homework from Tim Doppel (3-5 broad statements on where we ’d like the group to be long-term) . Alliance members shared their thoughts on what these long-term statements would be:  City leadership (staff and elected) should be reflective of our community.  We should have cultural celebrations that bring everyone together (feature 3-4 “groups” at a time, move these events around the city geographically and work to build a database of organizations that cater to each group for future marketing and communication/education purposes).  Bring other like-minded commissions together for information swap (Ethnic Community Committee, African American Coalition)  Create a PROCESS that ensures all events the City hosts are inclusive.  AUDIT existing City events to ensure they are inclusive and adjust as necessary.  Work to make sure everyone feels welcome.   Create a community that is a beacon / role model for diversity.  Focus on EDUCATION – open lines of communication with residents (i.e. a SeeClickFix type function for issues of inclusion and safety).  Host a speaker series / panel discussions featuring someone people want to hear (a name draw); create a speakers bureau of our own; have speakers cover cultural competency training; include event activities that cover all personalities, target new residents and maybe even offer a “passport” book where attendees can get their book stamped each time they get trained on specific subject matter – with an incentive when they fill their passport book. Maybe have this speaker series be a continuation of “Dodge Park Thursdays” once the summer is over.  Make our city the most accessible community. Begin with a baseline by doing a city walk through audit (i.e. “In 2021, our city was x% ADA accessible. By 2031, we increased to x% accessible.”  The group discussed the need to figure out a way to measure these objectives, and M. Davis pointed to the initial results of our 2021 resident survey to get a general baseline and also indicated we could engage in other survey methods like survey monkey, facebook polls, etc. C. Police Mural Discussion  M. Davis shared the facts about the genesis of the police department mural, our partnership with DIA, the mural artist statement about the piece and what it was designed to represent, the process, the timeline, etc. Several members were happy to hear the details and said they had a different interpretation of the piece without knowing any of this information. The question was posed whether the City had considered the poor timing of the mural unveiling, and M. Davis indicated that the City has entered into a relationship with a DE&I consultant to assist in navigating matters such as these and some processes will be put in place to consider things like this moving forward. D. Social Media Campaign – the group decided to remove this as an agenda item until we know what our messages will be as an outcome of our strategic planning process. M. Davis noted that a solid communications strategy could be a part of the ultimate strategic plan. 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 N. Powell-Thomas and a second from R. Harris, the meeting was adjourned at 7:54 p.m.