Equity Board · Wednesday, February 2, 2022 · City Council Digest

1. CALL TO ORDER

Board Membership

packet pp.3

Open packet at p.3 ↗

Staff report:

EQUITY BOARD Staff Liaison Monica Negrila, Human About Services Manager Created in 2021, this board is to support and Email cultivate the voices of the diverse communities in Issaquah by advising the Regular Members Mayor, City Council and City departments on 2022 - Cristina Abonce the City’s plans, policies, regulations, and 2023 - Megan Reichley* programs related to equity initiatives. 2023 - Alisa Stewart 2024 - Lorna Gilmour 2024 - Hellen Kibenge Membership 2024 - Lucrecia Choto The Equity Board is comprised of nine 2025 - Ray Manahan regular members, with four-year terms; 2025 - Tony Curry and three alternates, with two year terms. 2025 - Shalanda Curry Initial terms of the board are staggered. All member are appointed by the Mayor and subject to confirmation by the City Council. Alternate Members Terms expire April 30 of the year listed. For 2022 - Jacob Rubenstein* more…

2. APPROVAL OF MINUTES

Minutes of Janurary 5, 2022

packet pp.5–8

▶ Watch from 4:41 Open packet at p.5 ↗

Staff report:

APPROVAL OF MINUTES a) 01-05-22 Equity Board Minutes Page [0000] CITY OF ISSAQUAH Equity Board 6:00 PM Virtual Meeting January 5, 2022 MINUTES

4. AGENDA ITEMS

Equity Framework Overview & Background (I)

Director · 45 min · Stephanie Johnson, Human Resources · packet pp.9–40

Topics: Equity

▶ Watch from 5:04 Open packet at p.9 ↗

Staff report:

FEBRUARY 2 ND , 2022 EQUITY BOARD MEETING

Cultural & Religious Holidays

Discussion · 30 min · Monica Negrila, Human Services Manager · packet pp.41–89

Topics: Arts & Culture

▶ Watch from 20:12 Open packet at p.41 ↗

Staff report:

Return to the Equity Board to seek feedback Make formal on City proposed

Community Engagement & Member Proposed Conversations Related to Equity (D)

30 min · Tony Curry, Equity Board Vice Chair Monica Negrila, Human Services Manager · packet pp.91–109

Topics: Equity

▶ Watch from 30:17 Open packet at p.91 ↗

Staff report:

Community Engagement & Member Proposed Conversations FEBRUARY 2, 2022 EQUITY BOARD MEETING

5. STAFF REPORT

Updates from Mayor and City Council

Monica Negrila, Human Services Manager

2788 segments .txt ↗

0:00 ↗ on wednesday february 2nd 2022

0:05 ↗ i'd like to acknowledge that we have a

0:06 ↗ quorum and i will start by calling roll

0:11 ↗ all right so um once i call your name if

0:14 ↗ you would please just either raise your

0:16 ↗ hand or say here

0:17 ↗ we can go ahead and count you as present

0:22 ↗ all right um i'll start with christina

0:24 ↗ amante

0:30 ↗ thank you welcome christina uh megan

0:33 ↗ rightly

0:35 ↗ here

0:36 ↗ good to see you thank you alyssa stewart

0:40 ↗ and i understand that alyssa is actually

0:43 ↗ out excused tonight so

0:45 ↗ uh we know that she won't be here but

0:47 ↗ thank you

0:48 ↗ um

0:49 ↗ lorna gilmore

0:52 ↗ welcome and thank you

0:55 ↗ uh helen

0:56 ↗ keyberg

0:58 ↗ and i'm sorry if i butchered your last

1:00 ↗ name

1:02 ↗ i have a present that's kibenge actually

1:06 ↗ thank you

1:07 ↗ thank you for that

1:09 ↗ thank you all righty um lucretia choto

1:14 ↗ am i saying that correctly

1:17 ↗ yeah uh yes i don't see lucrecia here i

1:19 ↗ think it's um

1:21 ↗ so she might be absent tonight

1:25 ↗ all right then we'll move forward ray

1:27 ↗ manahan

1:29 ↗ here

1:30 ↗ hi good to see you

1:32 ↗ tony curry

1:33 ↗ right here

1:35 ↗ good to see you as well and i understand

1:37 ↗ tony will be dropping off

1:39 ↗ at 6 30 is that correct that is correct

1:42 ↗ thank you

1:43 ↗ all right and then of course there's me

1:45 ↗ shalonda curry and i'm here um and i'm

1:48 ↗ sorry shalonda fleming the name hasn't

1:50 ↗ been changed in the system yet so thank

1:52 ↗ you thank you and then we have jacob

1:55 ↗ rubinstein

1:58 ↗ here

1:59 ↗ thank you

2:00 ↗ preety marty pan

2:03 ↗ here

2:04 ↗ thank you and then kelly munn

2:07 ↗ here

2:08 ↗ good to see you thank you everyone we

2:10 ↗ appreciate you all acknowledging that

2:13 ↗ you're here um we will go ahead and

2:15 ↗ start to move into the agenda but first

2:17 ↗ i want to list a few ground rules just

2:20 ↗ so that we remember um some important

2:23 ↗ things to make this meeting flow well

2:26 ↗ so first and foremost um we want to

2:28 ↗ remind everyone to just please be as

2:30 ↗ concise as possible when speaking and

2:33 ↗ try not to speak more than twice during

2:35 ↗ a specific motion that's on the floor

2:38 ↗ for no longer than 10 minutes

2:40 ↗ we'd also like to ask that everyone keep

2:43 ↗ their information relevant to the

2:45 ↗ current minutes

2:47 ↗ i apologize

2:49 ↗ yoshi

2:51 ↗ thank you sorry about that

2:53 ↗ um and then please just remain courteous

2:56 ↗ to everyone who is speaking if you are

2:58 ↗ not speaking please mute yourself um and

3:00 ↗ then of course if you all have any

3:02 ↗ questions or comments we want to ask

3:05 ↗ that everyone either post

3:07 ↗ question or comment in the chat so that

3:09 ↗ we know that you have something to say

3:12 ↗ just due to the fact that um the anybody

3:14 ↗ that's on the phone may not be able to

3:16 ↗ see or

3:17 ↗ see your chat or see your question

3:20 ↗ also we want to just remind everyone to

3:22 ↗ please speak slowly and pause frequently

3:26 ↗ for our interpreters we do have some

3:28 ↗ interpreters on the line so hillary and

3:30 ↗ harry thank you for joining us tonight

3:33 ↗ and then i want to just give you all a

3:35 ↗ quick reminder as to why we're doing

3:37 ↗ this online essentially due to the

3:39 ↗ governor's proclamation 2028 related to

3:42 ↗ covet 19.

3:43 ↗ we will hold public meetings um

3:46 ↗ specifically this meeting remotely

3:48 ↗ thank you

3:51 ↗ and monica if you would please uh

3:54 ↗ we i oh i'm sorry i'd like to call this

3:56 ↗ meeting to order

3:57 ↗ and i'll have um

3:59 ↗ i'll ask that you all approve the minute

4:07 ↗ does anyone have any corrections that we

4:10 ↗ need to make to

4:11 ↗ the agenda for tonight

4:17 ↗ and i'll give you a few minutes to look

4:18 ↗ over it if you haven't seen it

4:23 ↗ corrections to the minutes right

4:25 ↗ yes i'm sorry correction to the minutes

4:35 ↗ alrighty if there are no corrections

4:39 ↗ then i'd like to

4:41 ↗ approve the minutes unanimously or i'd

4:44 ↗ like to give a unanimous consent to the

4:45 ↗ minutes

4:50 ↗ all right it sounds like we have no

4:52 ↗ corrections

4:54 ↗ all right then the minutes is

4:56 ↗ unanimously approved uh monica i'll pass

4:59 ↗ it to you

5:02 ↗ thank you say board members the next

5:04 ↗ agenda item is public comments

5:07 ↗ and i did not have we did not have

5:09 ↗ someone officially sign up to make up

5:13 ↗ the comments however we do have a few um

5:17 ↗ attendees tonight and i would like to

5:20 ↗ um

5:21 ↗ acknowledge them and give them an

5:23 ↗ opportunity to speak to the board

5:26 ↗ and so give me just a moment

5:31 ↗ so one of the first attendees

5:33 ↗ is robert leider mr robert i'm gonna

5:37 ↗ unmute you so you can um

5:40 ↗ introduce yourself to

5:42 ↗ uh the board and make your comments

5:45 ↗ okay and thank you i think you were

5:46 ↗ asking yeah you can speak for five

5:49 ↗ minutes but um

5:51 ↗ take this yes

5:53 ↗ okay

5:54 ↗ all right i've never

5:56 ↗ hello

5:57 ↗ board um

5:58 ↗ uh i'm robert leiter uh i'm from flint

6:01 ↗ michigan originally

6:03 ↗ um just moved here to do ministry in the

6:06 ↗ community

6:08 ↗ um just see a lot of and have always

6:11 ↗ seen a lot of things that are

6:13 ↗ wrong sometimes with how we do some

6:15 ↗ ministry and things and

6:17 ↗ i'm just trying to help change

6:19 ↗ change some of that stuff that i just

6:21 ↗ think is is poo poo and kaka sorry if

6:24 ↗ those are inappropriate words um

6:26 ↗ and i just uh i just want to help move

6:28 ↗ the needle

6:30 ↗ and i just figured that this

6:32 ↗ group of folks and other folks in this

6:34 ↗ community

6:35 ↗ probably are trying to do the same thing

6:37 ↗ and so i just really

6:39 ↗ i just really want to see what's going

6:42 ↗ on and and learn from those here and

6:45 ↗ uh and just learn and be be try to be as

6:48 ↗ humble and and open and listening

6:51 ↗ uh and able as i can

6:53 ↗ uh so that's

6:55 ↗ it i think thank you for letting me have

6:58 ↗ a little moment to speak and introduce

7:00 ↗ myself

7:02 ↗ thank you very much mr leider welcome to

7:05 ↗ issaquah and yes we would love to stay

7:07 ↗ in touch and

7:08 ↗ um please

7:09 ↗ join any other meetings that you would

7:11 ↗ like

7:12 ↗ and also we would love the opportunity

7:14 ↗ to stay connected about other events so

7:16 ↗ feel free

7:18 ↗ if you have the ability to put your

7:20 ↗ contact information in the chat and we

7:22 ↗ would love to stay in touch so thank you

7:24 ↗ again for joining us tonight awesome

7:26 ↗ thank you

7:27 ↗ thank you and board members we have a

7:30 ↗ second um

7:31 ↗ public member in the attendee section so

7:34 ↗ i'm just gonna mr richard nice to see

7:37 ↗ you i'm gonna unmute you in case you

7:39 ↗ would like to make any comments to

7:42 ↗ the board i am me that you good evening

7:45 ↗ good evening i just want to say i wish

7:47 ↗ that i could share my video i don't know

7:49 ↗ what's going on

7:51 ↗ uh so sorry about that

7:53 ↗ actually mr richard i apologize i can

7:56 ↗ certainly make you a panelist and you

7:58 ↗ can turn on your video give me just a

7:59 ↗ moment oh sure no problem thank you

8:03 ↗ you should have the ability now to turn

8:04 ↗ on your video

8:06 ↗ okay great

8:08 ↗ i just didn't want to look like i was

8:10 ↗ hiding i'm just a member of the

8:12 ↗ community and and had an opportunity to

8:16 ↗ talk to a couple of people today about

8:20 ↗ some issues i've had around

8:22 ↗ being gay and

8:24 ↗ disabled in the last five or six years

8:27 ↗ that i've lived here

8:28 ↗ so um they invited me to kind of come

8:31 ↗ and listen to this i'm really glad to be

8:33 ↗ here thank you

8:37 ↗ thank you so much for being with us and

8:39 ↗ please feel free to stay um for the

8:41 ↗ entire meeting if you if you have the

8:43 ↗ time

8:44 ↗ and thank you for your comment

8:49 ↗ um

8:50 ↗ okay board members

8:52 ↗ i don't see

8:54 ↗ um

8:56 ↗ other attendees and we don't have anyone

8:59 ↗ else signed up for public comments so

9:00 ↗ this concludes the public comment

9:02 ↗ section

9:03 ↗ um say back to you

9:05 ↗ thank you monica i appreciate it

9:08 ↗ um alrighty then if we have nothing else

9:11 ↗ we'll go ahead and start to move into

9:13 ↗ our agenda items um the first one being

9:16 ↗ the equity framework overview

9:18 ↗ um and that will actually be presented

9:20 ↗ by stephanie stephanie are you ready

9:25 ↗ all right i see a thumbs up let's go for

9:27 ↗ it

9:29 ↗ awesome well thank you all for having me

9:32 ↗ i had the opportunity to come out and

9:34 ↗ meet you at the december meeting we did

9:37 ↗ some introductions with our internal

9:40 ↗ equity team

9:41 ↗ um and you all as the newly formed

9:43 ↗ equity board so happy to be here again

9:46 ↗ um before i get into my presentation

9:48 ↗ tonight um candy lorenzo

9:52 ↗ is her is here with us tonight she's

9:54 ↗ also from the hr department we thought

9:56 ↗ we'd take the opportunity to to

9:59 ↗ introduce her

10:00 ↗ today is her second day of employment

10:03 ↗ with the city of issaquah and in the

10:06 ↗ human resources department and

10:08 ↗ uh one of the things that you know she's

10:10 ↗ on boarding and we're talking about all

10:13 ↗ the things that she's going to get to

10:15 ↗ help and be a part of

10:17 ↗ our continuous equity conversations

10:19 ↗ internally um is certainly at the

10:22 ↗ forefront of that and so um i want to

10:25 ↗ take a moment before i get into my

10:26 ↗ presentation to at least just i won't

10:29 ↗ speak for candy i'll let her

10:32 ↗ have the opportunity to introduce

10:34 ↗ herself to you all

10:36 ↗ hi my name is candy lorenzo and i feel

10:38 ↗ very comfortable uh in front of all of

10:41 ↗ you here to tell you my name is candy

10:42 ↗ mariana navarro rodento

10:44 ↗ i'm a non-native english speaker so

10:47 ↗ english is not my first language and i

10:49 ↗ would just like to thank you for

10:51 ↗ everything you're doing i mean i've been

10:53 ↗ in issaquah all of two days and i feel

10:55 ↗ very welcomed i feel this is a very

10:57 ↗ inclusive community and what you're

10:59 ↗ doing here is amazing stephanie's got

11:00 ↗ great plans and i'm very excited to be a

11:02 ↗ member of the team

11:07 ↗ thank you very much candy and stephanie

11:10 ↗ would you like me to share the

11:12 ↗ powerpoint at this time and that would

11:14 ↗ be great thank you

11:16 ↗ okay so one quick reminder stephanie

11:19 ↗ before you start to please pause after

11:23 ↗ each sent not quite each sentence but

11:25 ↗ after a couple of sentences to allow

11:27 ↗ time for our

11:28 ↗ interpreters

11:30 ↗ our spanish interpreters

11:32 ↗ okay and monica you have to keep me

11:34 ↗ honest because i'm a talker so i will do

11:37 ↗ my best

11:41 ↗ sounds good thank you

11:43 ↗ okay

11:45 ↗ so tonight my goal is uh you know and

11:49 ↗ monica you could advance to the next

11:50 ↗ slide um is where we talk about our

11:53 ↗ purpose here tonight is to really

11:55 ↗ provide this team an overview and

11:58 ↗ background on the work that we've

12:00 ↗ conducted to date citywide um a little

12:03 ↗ bit about training but really the heart

12:05 ↗ of the conversation that we're here to

12:07 ↗ talk to you tonight about is bringing

12:09 ↗ you up to speed uh with the work that

12:12 ↗ we've done in forming uh equity

12:15 ↗ framework

12:16 ↗ um an equity framework is simply a tool

12:19 ↗ utilized to analyze uh proposed policies

12:23 ↗ programs budgetary decisions uh to

12:27 ↗ ensure those decisions uh do not have

12:29 ↗ unintended consequences

12:31 ↗ um on uh or adverse on uh consequences

12:34 ↗ on marginalized groups

12:36 ↗ um so we're going to talk through kind

12:38 ↗ of our timeline and where we're at um

12:41 ↗ my goal tonight is really to get

12:44 ↗ direction from you bring you up to speed

12:46 ↗ um on what we've been doing now that you

12:48 ↗ all are a part of our team

12:51 ↗ i would love to get some uh you know

12:53 ↗ initial feedback from you on the work

12:56 ↗ conducted so far

12:58 ↗ and

12:59 ↗ any direction that you can provide us on

13:01 ↗ next steps as we really look at doing

13:03 ↗ this work together

13:07 ↗ monica i have a logistics question um is

13:11 ↗ the interpretation happening secondary

13:13 ↗ to me pausing okay sorry thank you so

13:16 ↗ it's happening that's why it's happening

13:18 ↗ at the same time as you speak in the

13:20 ↗ background so um

13:23 ↗ that's why it's just yes you're great

13:26 ↗ great and they can i invite hillary and

13:28 ↗ harry to jump in if they feel like you

13:30 ↗ need to slow down

13:33 ↗ awesome thank you

13:35 ↗ so

13:36 ↗ um you know i i'll tell you that i've

13:39 ↗ been with the city uh since

13:41 ↗ 2015

13:43 ↗ um and i've been able to see a bit of a

13:46 ↗ timeline in that timeline um we're going

13:49 ↗ to really kind of focus on background

13:51 ↗ from the last couple of years and and

13:53 ↗ where we are today

13:55 ↗ um

13:56 ↗ i'm going to close my chat really quick

13:58 ↗ here because my powerpoint is really

14:00 ↗ small i thought

14:02 ↗ my

14:03 ↗ um

14:04 ↗ so

14:05 ↗ you know back in march of 2018

14:09 ↗ um the city introduced uh the idea of

14:13 ↗ equity training uh to all our staff we

14:16 ↗ realize you know there is a

14:19 ↗ a key opportunity here within the work

14:22 ↗ that we do the workforce that we have

14:25 ↗ who we are as a city and where we want

14:27 ↗ to go um to really bring equity uh to a

14:31 ↗ forefront of conversation in the

14:33 ↗ organization

14:35 ↗ um so those original conversations

14:37 ↗ started to happen at the executive level

14:40 ↗ back in march of 2018 in a meaningful

14:43 ↗ way

14:44 ↗ um part of that conversation was let's

14:47 ↗ get really used to talking about equity

14:51 ↗ and training staff and

14:53 ↗ and having this as a part of our

14:54 ↗ everyday conversations and so one of the

14:57 ↗ first orders of business

14:59 ↗ that the administration wanted to do

15:02 ↗ was to hold equity training for all our

15:05 ↗ staff

15:08 ↗ in may 2018

15:10 ↗ was the first opportunity

15:13 ↗ for staff to attend a series of equity

15:16 ↗ workshops we

15:18 ↗ executed a consultant contract with an

15:21 ↗ individual and we had our first couple

15:24 ↗ sessions

15:26 ↗ feedback from staff at that time um was

15:29 ↗ that we took

15:31 ↗ quite a strong approach and

15:33 ↗ one of the things that i've recognized

15:35 ↗ in my career of human resources is

15:38 ↗ really identifying the best trainers and

15:41 ↗ the best content for conversations and

15:45 ↗ um i think we we we saw we missed the

15:47 ↗ mark a little bit there and all uh

15:49 ↗ honesty and so we held two first

15:52 ↗ trainings and and then we took a pause

15:55 ↗ we took a pause because we wanted to

15:57 ↗ hear the feedback we wanted to have

16:00 ↗ these trainings meaningful for staff

16:02 ↗ uh and we wanted to

16:04 ↗ make them in such a way that the the

16:06 ↗ conversations were were very welcoming

16:10 ↗ uh to the organization

16:13 ↗ we uh

16:14 ↗ i should probably pause there a minute

16:16 ↗ again

16:18 ↗ you're doing a great job stephanie with

16:20 ↗ pausing thank you at least compared to

16:22 ↗ how we've been doing it and i want to

16:24 ↗ speak for myself and how

16:26 ↗ fast i tend to speak

16:29 ↗ great work

16:31 ↗ so following you know that first

16:34 ↗ introductory introduction

16:36 ↗ to training in may of 2018 and and then

16:40 ↗ putting a pause on it uh with other work

16:43 ↗ plan items it was never meant to be put

16:45 ↗ on any kind of shelf but with other you

16:49 ↗ know workload uh you know this work

16:51 ↗ really wasn't picked back up in a great

16:54 ↗ meaningful way

16:56 ↗ um we had some change in the

16:57 ↗ administration uh other issues until the

17:01 ↗ following year march of 2019

17:05 ↗ we put out a call of interest to the

17:07 ↗ organization uh to begin a cohort

17:12 ↗ a team of staff a team of six staff

17:16 ↗ signed up to begin a nine-month cohort

17:18 ↗ training on advancing racial equity uh

17:22 ↗ through the gear program

17:23 ↗ uh monica negrilla

17:26 ↗ here this evening was one of those six

17:28 ↗ staff members that was a part of that

17:30 ↗ gear training uh lauren knox who's on a

17:34 ↗ current medical leave from the hr

17:36 ↗ department was representing the hr

17:38 ↗ department

17:40 ↗ but really that work is exactly what it

17:42 ↗ says here was to have a cohort

17:46 ↗ um to to really be subject matter

17:49 ↗ experts for us in the organization on

17:52 ↗ how we advance racial equity

17:54 ↗ um

17:55 ↗ sorry may the interpreter ask miss

17:57 ↗ johnson to speak a little bit slower for

17:59 ↗ us

18:01 ↗ thank you so much

18:04 ↗ do i need to repeat any of that

18:08 ↗ no thank you

18:09 ↗ okay great

18:11 ↗ um

18:12 ↗ so along with uh the nine month gear

18:16 ↗ training uh fast forward to september

18:19 ↗ 2019

18:22 ↗ we came up with a fancy name for this

18:25 ↗ cohort called team equity

18:28 ↗ uh we introduced team equity to the city

18:31 ↗ internal staff

18:34 ↗ as a part of that introduction uh we

18:36 ↗ held our first couple events that we had

18:39 ↗ historically not advertised internally

18:42 ↗ in the organization

18:44 ↗ one of those items was welcoming week

18:48 ↗ celebration

18:49 ↗ and another was three opportunities for

18:53 ↗ a cultural panel series for staff

19:02 ↗ that was really the first time after we

19:05 ↗ had done some introduction in 2018

19:09 ↗ a whole year almost 18 months had gone

19:12 ↗ by before we reintroduced

19:16 ↗ in a great way

19:18 ↗ you know some real

19:19 ↗ opportunities for people to to join

19:22 ↗ events in the city

19:24 ↗ as a part of you know advancing uh

19:27 ↗ racial equity work in the city

19:33 ↗ i'm going a whole year later almost to

19:36 ↗ my next place in our background

19:40 ↗ i think we all know the significance of

19:44 ↗ the death of george floyd that happened

19:46 ↗ in may of 2020

19:49 ↗ and what that meant in the importance of

19:51 ↗ advancing this work not just internally

19:54 ↗ but certainly to our community at large

19:57 ↗ as well

20:01 ↗ and monica could you advance the next

20:03 ↗ slide please

20:05 ↗ yes thank you stephanie and i apologize

20:07 ↗ i'm trying to work with a board member

20:09 ↗ who's trying to log in so i'm a little

20:11 ↗ bit that's what i'm working here but yes

20:14 ↗ thank you for that

20:15 ↗ no worries

20:17 ↗ so following the death of george floyd

20:20 ↗ and some foundational work that the city

20:22 ↗ had already underway

20:25 ↗ uh with this work we

20:28 ↗ you know this really became a prominent

20:31 ↗ you know necessary conversation that we

20:34 ↗ bring back to the forefront

20:36 ↗ we had done some baseline work but we

20:38 ↗ identified a lot more work that that we

20:41 ↗ needed to focus on and bring to

20:43 ↗ limelight within our city

20:46 ↗ and you know i really i'm very proud of

20:50 ↗ uh so many things that the city has

20:52 ↗ accomplished uh since august of 2020 um

20:57 ↗ which really kind of kind of brings us

20:59 ↗ to the conversation

21:02 ↗ at large

21:03 ↗ i see my chat going off and i want to

21:06 ↗ make sure

21:07 ↗ i

21:08 ↗ answer questions i don't have it open so

21:11 ↗ let me

21:13 ↗ let me make sure i do that so i'm not

21:15 ↗ missing any questions so i apologize for

21:17 ↗ that i'm going to pause here a minute

21:20 ↗ stephanie would you like me to call on

21:22 ↗ the members that have posed those

21:23 ↗ questions

21:24 ↗ sure i'm happy to have you help me with

21:26 ↗ that in any way my powerpoint gets small

21:29 ↗ if i have my

21:30 ↗ um questions open so um helping me

21:34 ↗ juggle that is great

21:36 ↗ all right and tony if you'd like i can

21:38 ↗ go ahead and just repeat the questions

21:40 ↗ for you because i know you might be

21:41 ↗ jumping off soon

21:44 ↗ so uh

21:46 ↗ let's see here's the first question what

21:48 ↗ was the response of the staff in these

21:50 ↗ trainings um was it favorable or

21:53 ↗ otherwise

21:55 ↗ yeah great question because quite

21:57 ↗ honestly we put a pause on it because it

22:00 ↗ was not favorable and

22:03 ↗ um

22:04 ↗ not favorable it be and i want to

22:06 ↗ explain why i just remember some of the

22:08 ↗ feedback that i got at that time

22:11 ↗ the staff was very supportive and

22:13 ↗ welcoming of such training

22:16 ↗ i think the content and the trainer that

22:18 ↗ we chose at the time

22:20 ↗ um came in with

22:22 ↗ you know and

22:24 ↗ as we become more comfortable with these

22:26 ↗ conversations i think we've all learned

22:29 ↗ as an organization

22:31 ↗ um but i i know that you know being in

22:33 ↗ hr and hearing some of the staff um

22:37 ↗ at that time

22:38 ↗ um one of the first you know things that

22:41 ↗ the trainer had said is you know let's

22:43 ↗ give a moment of silence for the land

22:45 ↗ we've all stolen here in issaquah

22:48 ↗ that that affected staff because they

22:50 ↗ didn't know how to receive that they

22:52 ↗ hadn't had you know that that

22:54 ↗ sensitivity to that

22:55 ↗ and

22:56 ↗ some comments about

22:58 ↗ um

22:59 ↗ white privilege and that kind of rubbing

23:02 ↗ you know staff wrong and so

23:05 ↗ um i i really believe you know we

23:08 ↗ learned in a first couple of sessions

23:12 ↗ that we we needed to start with some

23:14 ↗ just basic education and understanding

23:17 ↗ we were gung-ho about offering things

23:21 ↗ and we didn't really really educate with

23:24 ↗ the with the history behind it

23:26 ↗ um you know i i can tell you um i'm i'm

23:30 ↗ actually

23:31 ↗ glad that happened because when we get

23:33 ↗ to the point

23:35 ↗ of uh

23:37 ↗ you know talking about the trainings

23:39 ↗ that we've done in the last year

23:41 ↗ we really started with just some

23:43 ↗ facilitated conversations about

23:46 ↗ deconstructing our biases and that went

23:49 ↗ a really long way and so i think we were

23:51 ↗ able to learn from that opportunity

23:54 ↗ and really move that forward as a result

23:57 ↗ of that feedback from staff because uh

24:00 ↗ you know individuals need to need need

24:03 ↗ to be comfortable having these

24:05 ↗ conversations even when they're

24:06 ↗ uncomfortable right so

24:08 ↗ um it wasn't overly favorable to some

24:12 ↗ not all some were very receiving we

24:15 ↗ decided to take a pause and rethink

24:17 ↗ about how we were going to do it

24:28 ↗ are you helping me

24:31 ↗ yes i was going to jump in i just wanted

24:32 ↗ to make sure that you we allowed the

24:35 ↗ interpreters to

24:36 ↗ to do their thing um but definitely uh

24:39 ↗ tony said thank you for their clarity

24:40 ↗ and insight um the second question he

24:43 ↗ asked was did an increase in desire of

24:45 ↗ staff for this type of work increase in

24:47 ↗ 2020 or did we see a decline and i just

24:51 ↗ added that piece he did not ask if we

24:52 ↗ saw a decline

24:55 ↗ yeah thank you for that and the answer

24:57 ↗ is absolutely

25:00 ↗ i think you know

25:01 ↗ our world was shaken by what happened

25:03 ↗ our city population our internal staff

25:06 ↗ was shaken by that

25:08 ↗ where we had done that original call for

25:12 ↗ interest in cohort and gear training in

25:15 ↗ 2018

25:17 ↗ uh part of the next part of the timeline

25:20 ↗ that i'm going to talk about here in a

25:22 ↗ minute

25:23 ↗ is

25:24 ↗ in june 2020 after that happened we went

25:27 ↗ back out to the organization and asked

25:30 ↗ for a call of interest for those joining

25:33 ↗ the team and we have over 20 uh members

25:37 ↗ want to join our internal equity team so

25:40 ↗ uh you know where we had to kind of do

25:42 ↗ some

25:43 ↗ um

25:44 ↗ uh

25:46 ↗ nudging of six people to join a cohort

25:48 ↗ and get this initiative running uh we

25:52 ↗ had an overwhelming response in 2020 and

25:55 ↗ a real desire to to continue those

25:58 ↗ conversations and do more

26:04 ↗ thank you and for that um i think that

26:07 ↗ was some great clarity on what we're

26:10 ↗ doing um i don't see any other questions

26:13 ↗ but if we could pause for just a moment

26:15 ↗ and i'll ask if any of the other board

26:17 ↗ members have questions at this point

26:24 ↗ all right it looks like we're all set

26:28 ↗ okay so

26:30 ↗ uh following the death of george floyd

26:33 ↗ some internal conversations a call for

26:37 ↗ more interest internally uh for the

26:40 ↗ equity internal team

26:43 ↗ uh in august 2020 the city council

26:46 ↗ adopted what you may all have seen or

26:49 ↗ not uh you'd have to educate me on

26:52 ↗ your knowledge of the police

26:54 ↗ accountability equity and human services

26:58 ↗ action plan

26:59 ↗ that was the beginning conversation of a

27:03 ↗ a different kind of framework to really

27:06 ↗ start to form this equity board

27:16 ↗ i'm gonna

27:18 ↗ when i'm pausing but two i i would also

27:21 ↗ be remiss if i didn't mention and i

27:23 ↗ don't have it on a bullet here

27:27 ↗ the city council in 2020

27:30 ↗ participated in their first equity

27:34 ↗ baseline training as well and so that

27:37 ↗ was an opportunity where we had

27:40 ↗ historically reached out to staff

27:42 ↗ internally the council really showed an

27:46 ↗ interest in this as well and so

27:49 ↗ that occurred in august 2020 as well

28:00 ↗ fast forward to december of 2020

28:04 ↗ uh we realized that you know and i'll

28:07 ↗ speak for myself in in hr and for hr

28:11 ↗ staff

28:12 ↗ so much of what we do in hr

28:15 ↗ in employment is

28:17 ↗ it has a foundation of equity

28:20 ↗ but

28:21 ↗ it it it doesn't necessarily have the

28:24 ↗ external

28:25 ↗ you know focus on equity to our

28:28 ↗ community other than how our staff are

28:31 ↗ performing in business that supports

28:33 ↗ that community

28:35 ↗ we did not have the internal

28:37 ↗ staff

28:38 ↗ to really be a chief equity officer

28:42 ↗ uh oh monica i think we

28:44 ↗ um can you go back a minute thanks

28:47 ↗ um

28:48 ↗ we decided to execute a contract in

28:51 ↗ december of 2020 uh with someone who is

28:55 ↗ very knowledgeable in this work uh dr

28:58 ↗ pat effiom

28:59 ↗ of equity consulting services

29:02 ↗ we partnered with her

29:04 ↗ uh because we needed a partner in this

29:06 ↗ and help us facilitate this so that we

29:09 ↗ do we approach this work uh in a way

29:13 ↗ that's going to be meaningful for our

29:15 ↗ employees our residents we have a

29:17 ↗ resource um

29:19 ↗ because quite honestly we've all been

29:21 ↗ learning together and growing together

29:23 ↗ and so

29:24 ↗ one of the things that the council was

29:27 ↗ really committed to

29:29 ↗ was executing help and resource and

29:33 ↗ dollars to this work

29:40 ↗ i'm gonna fast forward just the very

29:42 ↗ next month

29:44 ↗ um

29:45 ↗ and i want to mention that

29:47 ↗ during this time frame um there's a lot

29:49 ↗ of things that have been happening

29:51 ↗ during this time frame as we go along

29:54 ↗ we put out a rfp a request for proposals

29:58 ↗ for

29:59 ↗ equity trainers

30:02 ↗ so while we had

30:04 ↗ contracted with pet effium

30:07 ↗ we also were looking at our next

30:10 ↗ opportunity for internal staff equity

30:13 ↗ training

30:16 ↗ that

30:17 ↗ part that we started back in may 2018

30:21 ↗ and we learn some things

30:23 ↗ how do we bring that back how do we

30:25 ↗ bring it back better

30:27 ↗ while we were

30:29 ↗ working to execute a contract and make a

30:32 ↗ selection for the rfp

30:34 ↗ we decided to purchase an internal

30:37 ↗ software

30:39 ↗ it's called trelliant

30:41 ↗ and we introduced three trellian

30:44 ↗ training courses that we assigned to

30:46 ↗ staff

30:48 ↗ i have offered the equity board uh to

30:51 ↗ participate in those trainings and if

30:54 ↗ you did not get your email i i

30:56 ↗ recognized a snafu today so

30:58 ↗ uh do know i am on that um you will

31:02 ↗ absolutely have the opportunity to

31:05 ↗ participate in the same things that the

31:08 ↗ staff participated in

31:13 ↗ we decided to have the staff participate

31:16 ↗ in three trainings over the course of

31:20 ↗ january february and march

31:23 ↗ so that starting in march and april

31:27 ↗ we would have our consultant selected

31:29 ↗ and really begin more training

31:32 ↗ with our internal staff

31:35 ↗ based on the rfp selection

31:43 ↗ in february while we were we were doing

31:46 ↗ a couple things in parallel here

31:49 ↗ we introduced the the training courses

31:52 ↗ to staff online

31:54 ↗ we also executed a contract with a

31:56 ↗ second equity consultant

31:59 ↗ channing kelly ray

32:04 ↗ we began to work with shannon to design

32:07 ↗ and structure

32:10 ↗ our next staff training that we would

32:12 ↗ offer to begin starting in march of 2021

32:19 ↗ in march when we

32:21 ↗ uh introduced facilitated conversations

32:25 ↗ i mentioned that were you know came back

32:27 ↗ uh very well received and a different

32:30 ↗ approach to training our organization

32:33 ↗ the city council

32:35 ↗ also participated in racial equity uh

32:39 ↗ tools training conversation

32:42 ↗ regarding an equity framework with a

32:45 ↗ third consultant that we have partnered

32:48 ↗ with you a you all may or may not know

32:51 ↗ bonita horn who has been uh doing this

32:54 ↗ work for a long time

32:56 ↗ so i just want to let you know you know

32:58 ↗ the background that brings us here today

33:01 ↗ you know

33:03 ↗ introduces some

33:05 ↗ city-wide training

33:07 ↗ some council training and some

33:11 ↗ consultant contracts as well

33:16 ↗ but monica will you go back one second

33:18 ↗ sorry i just want to pause for

33:21 ↗ and i was going to say stephanie i did

33:23 ↗ have a question um do we have a moment

33:25 ↗ to ask absolutely

33:28 ↗ i just wanted to know if we've continued

33:30 ↗ to utilize these trainers and

33:32 ↗ consultants and do we see any

33:34 ↗ i don't want to say necessarily mandates

33:36 ↗ but any um agreements for city workers

33:40 ↗ to continue this training

33:44 ↗ yes and yes

33:46 ↗ let me uh clarify there

33:48 ↗ so i just executed a contract with

33:53 ↗ shannon kelly ray

33:55 ↗ to conduct additional uh deconstructing

33:59 ↗ our biases conversations with the new

34:02 ↗ hires that didn't get the opportunity

34:04 ↗ for training since the last training

34:07 ↗ occurred in september

34:10 ↗ we also wanted to bring that same

34:13 ↗ training and conversation to all our

34:16 ↗ boards and commissions

34:18 ↗ so

34:19 ↗ one work plan item for 2022

34:22 ↗ is to bring the exact same trainings

34:25 ↗ that the internal staff have received

34:27 ↗ to our boards and commissions so that we

34:30 ↗ are all training and speaking the same

34:34 ↗ language and moving this work forward

34:36 ↗ together

34:39 ↗ uh the second part of your question

34:41 ↗ about you know mandates or policy for

34:45 ↗ for city-wide training

34:48 ↗ our equity team

34:50 ↗ has been talking about okay what's next

34:53 ↗ in terms of training for our staff

34:56 ↗ we had a

34:57 ↗ 2022

34:58 ↗ work plan discussion in january

35:02 ↗ our meeting in february is very focused

35:05 ↗ on equity what's next with equity

35:08 ↗ training in general

35:10 ↗ um

35:10 ↗ or i shouldn't say in general what's

35:12 ↗ next with equity training

35:15 ↗ to bring to the organization now that

35:17 ↗ we've done three trillion trainings

35:21 ↗ and we've facilitated some

35:22 ↗ deconstructing our biases training how

35:25 ↗ do we continue to move this work

35:29 ↗ the equity framework that we're gonna

35:30 ↗ get you know we're gonna talk about

35:33 ↗ um we need to train our staff on what an

35:36 ↗ equity framework is so i think one of

35:39 ↗ the next opportunities for training

35:41 ↗ is getting our internal staff

35:44 ↗ also you know familiar with an equity

35:47 ↗ framework and training around that

35:50 ↗ the administration is very supportive of

35:52 ↗ that

35:53 ↗ we have brainstormed about

35:56 ↗ um a potential requirement that every

36:00 ↗ year

36:01 ↗ each staff member dedicate

36:04 ↗ so many you know hours towards an equity

36:08 ↗ you know training or initiative

36:10 ↗ we very much brainstorm

36:12 ↗ do you have a menu of things available

36:15 ↗ to you that we the equity team makes

36:18 ↗ available and you get to check off a

36:20 ↗ handful of things that you've conducted

36:23 ↗ we're still

36:24 ↗ exploratory and all those things

36:27 ↗ um but we have talked about

36:29 ↗ embedding this work um and sustaining it

36:33 ↗ that it's not just

36:35 ↗ we have done training and we are done

36:37 ↗ that is the last thing we want to be

36:39 ↗ doing but that this is a continuous

36:42 ↗ training that we have every year

36:45 ↗ and we've talked about you know it being

36:48 ↗ things you know um

36:51 ↗ as simple as

36:52 ↗ attending one of the events that we

36:54 ↗ advertise it could be

36:57 ↗ you know a book club and sharing of

37:00 ↗ knowledge about something you don't know

37:01 ↗ about um so so yes there's an absolute

37:05 ↗ commitment and talk about that going

37:08 ↗ forward

37:09 ↗ with what we've done but figuring out

37:12 ↗ what's next

37:15 ↗ thank you so much for answering that

37:16 ↗ question for me stephanie does anyone

37:18 ↗ else have a question at this point

37:21 ↗ i believe lorna had a question earlier

37:26 ↗ mr lorna please share your question

37:29 ↗ no worries uh shannon i wanted to know

37:31 ↗ if there was any

37:32 ↗ conversation and discussion as part of

37:35 ↗ the three-part workshop by trelian

37:38 ↗ training or was it purely

37:40 ↗ a

37:41 ↗ course that

37:42 ↗ staff engaged

37:44 ↗ on the computer on their own

37:47 ↗ yeah that's a really good question

37:49 ↗ because

37:50 ↗ um it was on the computer and it gave

37:53 ↗ some just uh foundational things so that

37:56 ↗ when the facilitated conversations began

38:00 ↗ employees were familiar with concepts

38:03 ↗ and terms that were then brought about

38:05 ↗ in those facilitated conversations with

38:08 ↗ shannon

38:09 ↗ so

38:10 ↗ yes and no

38:12 ↗ it was

38:13 ↗ computer training

38:15 ↗ that then became real conversation in

38:18 ↗ the facilitated conversations although

38:21 ↗ different vendor and consultant but that

38:24 ↗ key terms concepts thoughts

38:27 ↗ um conversation were familiar

38:35 ↗ and did all of the same staff for all of

38:37 ↗ the staff

38:38 ↗ participate in

38:39 ↗ the discussions with shannon kelly ray

38:44 ↗ i'm sorry lorna will you repeat that one

38:46 ↗ more time i was distracted by reading

38:48 ↗ chat

38:50 ↗ sorry

38:51 ↗ so i saw that on the previous slide for

38:54 ↗ the timeline it said staff assigned

38:55 ↗ three courses

38:57 ↗ so were all staff also assigned to do

39:00 ↗ the

39:01 ↗ deconstruction be constructing a bias

39:04 ↗ with shannon kelly ray that's correct so

39:08 ↗ all our staff minus one or two because

39:11 ↗ of sick or it was a very low number that

39:14 ↗ did not participate so

39:17 ↗ out of

39:18 ↗ roughly 250

39:20 ↗ employees

39:21 ↗ all

39:22 ↗ 250 or 240 something

39:26 ↗ we've got a list of who hasn't been with

39:28 ↗ it or or conducted those things so that

39:31 ↗ we can you know pick that up and they

39:34 ↗ complete in 22. so all staff um we were

39:38 ↗ really

39:39 ↗ proud of that internally i will tell you

39:41 ↗ because

39:42 ↗ for all

39:43 ↗ 240 some of our staff

39:47 ↗ to participate in

39:49 ↗ three online trainings one uh you know

39:52 ↗ facilitated conversation that's work the

39:55 ↗ city had never done before and so um we

39:59 ↗ you know we found that as a real success

40:02 ↗ and something that we're trying to embed

40:04 ↗ into the onboarding process

40:07 ↗ for new hires and that we continue

40:10 ↗ this work

40:16 ↗ okay um i

40:18 ↗ and i want to be cognizant of time

40:21 ↗ because i

40:23 ↗ i know there's other business and i know

40:25 ↗ we still have quite a bit to get to our

40:28 ↗ content so

40:29 ↗ i'm gonna phone my friend monica and

40:32 ↗ shay and

40:33 ↗ um

40:34 ↗ i i just want to make sure i can keep

40:36 ↗ going or you know um do we you know

40:41 ↗ i imagine some of the things that we're

40:43 ↗ going to talk about is going to be

40:45 ↗ probably over the course of a few a few

40:47 ↗ of these meetings a couple at least

40:51 ↗ yes and i would say so and um unless the

40:54 ↗ committee needs a break or anything like

40:56 ↗ that i think we're good to continue

40:59 ↗ okay great

41:00 ↗ so i'm sorry to interrupt i've been

41:02 ↗ raising my hand for quite a while but i

41:04 ↗ don't know if we have changed the rules

41:07 ↗ since the last time

41:09 ↗ if it's electronic or if i raise my hand

41:11 ↗ in the video

41:12 ↗ and i'm sorry lucretia i'm looking for

41:15 ↗ um comments and questions so i didn't

41:17 ↗ have the plan the participants list

41:20 ↗ pulled up to see the raised hands so my

41:21 ↗ apologies for that

41:23 ↗ how are we supposed to do it can

41:25 ↗ somebody clarify that for me

41:27 ↗ sure generally speaking we should either

41:30 ↗ post in the chat that you have a

41:32 ↗ question or a comment not necessarily

41:34 ↗ writing out the question or the comment

41:36 ↗ but just saying hey question from it and

41:38 ↗ then that usually lets me know that you

41:40 ↗ are wanting to ask a question or

41:43 ↗ leave a comment

41:44 ↗ um however i'll do a better job of

41:47 ↗ monitoring the participants list so i

41:49 ↗ can see who has their hand raised oh no

41:51 ↗ no problem i mean i can totally do what

41:52 ↗ you just described i just thought that

41:54 ↗ we had agreed on the little hand but

41:56 ↗ it's okay

41:57 ↗ so can i ask my question

42:00 ↗ yes

42:00 ↗ please sorry about that

42:03 ↗ um so my question to the panelists is

42:07 ↗ have you considered or will the city

42:09 ↗ consider the possibility of

42:12 ↗ including the

42:14 ↗ participation in these sorts of

42:15 ↗ trainings as part of

42:17 ↗ the

42:19 ↗ the yearly review for employees

42:22 ↗ so that there is an incentive for them

42:24 ↗ to actually you know take it

42:26 ↗ possibly more seriously

42:30 ↗ yeah that's a really great thought and

42:32 ↗ question

42:34 ↗ uh the city went away from the

42:37 ↗ traditional performance review model a

42:40 ↗ couple of years ago

42:42 ↗ um

42:43 ↗ i won't get into the weeds of that but

42:46 ↗ uh the traditional performance review uh

42:49 ↗ we found was somewhat of a universally

42:53 ↗ hated process by both supervisors and

42:55 ↗ managers because it didn't feel timely

42:59 ↗ we've really moved our

43:01 ↗ organization in a way to do frequent

43:04 ↗ check-ins

43:05 ↗ um that does evaluate performance so i

43:09 ↗ don't want to

43:10 ↗ um i i don't want to miss speak that we

43:14 ↗ aren't evaluating performance because

43:16 ↗ it's being evaluated but

43:19 ↗ continuous through continuous check-in

43:21 ↗ and conversation

43:23 ↗ one of the things that we're working on

43:26 ↗ um well you know we we had to

43:29 ↗ um

43:30 ↗ move away from that traditional model

43:32 ↗ and really help coach people to have

43:35 ↗ conversations that was kind of a first

43:37 ↗ step in that process

43:39 ↗ we have an employee experience team

43:42 ↗ internally

43:44 ↗ and one of the uh

43:47 ↗ main

43:48 ↗ initiatives of that employee experience

43:50 ↗ team they're very interested in equity

43:53 ↗ work

43:54 ↗ and one of the

43:56 ↗ four uh you know really one of the work

43:58 ↗ plan items that is of significance that

44:01 ↗ we actually are talking about just this

44:03 ↗ friday is growth and development

44:07 ↗ so i think that's going to be the

44:08 ↗ beginning conversations of blending the

44:10 ↗ two

44:12 ↗ how do we talk in

44:14 ↗ check-ins about growth and development

44:17 ↗ and how does that growth and development

44:19 ↗ also include equity and other training

44:22 ↗ so

44:22 ↗ have we gotten there yet no is there a

44:25 ↗ vision to to get there uh yes

44:29 ↗ you know um we've got a little bit of

44:31 ↗ work to do but great point and uh

44:34 ↗ i will certainly bring that forward in

44:36 ↗ conversation um i'm facilitating uh that

44:39 ↗ discussion on friday

44:41 ↗ thank you i appreciate your response

44:44 ↗ yeah

44:45 ↗ okay so yep go stephanie one last note i

44:48 ↗ think you have about five more minutes

44:51 ↗ uh if that's okay if you perhaps i know

44:54 ↗ that's your time a minute and uh as you

44:56 ↗ mentioned definitely move forward but

44:58 ↗ perhaps if you want to

45:00 ↗ try to go to the presentation and we'll

45:02 ↗ continue next time if that's okay yeah

45:05 ↗ so let's go ahead and advance to the

45:06 ↗ next slide because i think i've given a

45:10 ↗ as a good summary of

45:12 ↗ staff training consultant selected

45:16 ↗ council um

45:19 ↗ you know trainings that brings us to at

45:21 ↗ least july

45:23 ↗ um if you go back one minute monica

45:27 ↗ the july 13th uh council study session i

45:31 ↗ want to really bring to the forefront of

45:33 ↗ your attention because

45:35 ↗ this is when we introduced

45:38 ↗ uh to the city council after some

45:41 ↗ baseline training and some beginning

45:44 ↗ conversations

45:46 ↗ about what an equity framework is

45:49 ↗ and building a tool

45:51 ↗ we introduced uh two

45:54 ↗ concepts of frameworks to counsel

45:57 ↗ seek in advance

46:02 ↗ we introduced a step model

46:05 ↗ and we introduced a postcard model

46:08 ↗ uh

46:09 ↗ there is not

46:11 ↗ one better way than another these are

46:14 ↗ just different tools that different

46:17 ↗ organizations

46:18 ↗ have created

46:20 ↗ or adopted to help them

46:23 ↗ uh you know frame equity in those policy

46:27 ↗ decisions every day

46:30 ↗ we're going to start with the step model

46:32 ↗ this is an example of the city of

46:35 ↗ seattle's

46:36 ↗ as we began to

46:38 ↗ conversate around

46:41 ↗ building an equity framework in issaquah

46:44 ↗ we went and did homework to see what

46:47 ↗ other people had let's see what's out

46:50 ↗ there

46:50 ↗ um while we need to make

46:53 ↗ uh something for issaquah you know if we

46:57 ↗ don't have to reinvent the wheel in

46:59 ↗ areas let's see what's out there

47:01 ↗ especially in some bigger cities that

47:03 ↗ maybe

47:04 ↗ have been doing you know some of this

47:06 ↗ work uh longer

47:08 ↗ or have had

47:09 ↗ more staff working on it

47:13 ↗ the

47:14 ↗ step model

47:15 ↗ is a focus on the process

47:19 ↗ and not the specific questions

47:21 ↗ so this is very high level

47:25 ↗ step model

47:27 ↗ setting outcomes

47:29 ↗ involving stakeholders and analyzing

47:32 ↗ data

47:33 ↗ determining benefits and or burden

47:36 ↗ advancing opportunity you're minimizing

47:38 ↗ harm

47:40 ↗ evaluation step and you know certainly

47:43 ↗ reporting back

47:45 ↗ i'm going to show you a few different

47:47 ↗ ones here that we that we got a hold of

47:50 ↗ so that was seattle and they have a step

47:53 ↗ model

47:54 ↗ this is renton

47:56 ↗ you know it's less about the graphic and

47:59 ↗ more about the process

48:01 ↗ but everybody has really adopted what

48:03 ↗ works well for their city

48:06 ↗ and we're looking to do the same and

48:08 ↗ that's part of the feedback that we're

48:10 ↗ going to want from you as we design

48:14 ↗ and i say we

48:15 ↗ very purposefully

48:17 ↗ we the internal equity team we the

48:20 ↗ equity board and we are city council

48:23 ↗ members

48:24 ↗ as we develop for issaquah a framework

48:28 ↗ this looks very similar to seattle um in

48:32 ↗ terms of steps um about process

48:37 ↗ portland is the next example here

48:40 ↗ um there is is

48:42 ↗ even more simpler in terms of three core

48:45 ↗ things see it get ready and do it

48:48 ↗ although there's seven uh steps in their

48:52 ↗ model

48:53 ↗ so those are three kinds of examples

48:55 ↗ where

48:57 ↗ we could you know

48:59 ↗ offer a step model

49:02 ↗ the postcard model is the second option

49:05 ↗ and this really gets at the heart of the

49:08 ↗ questions to ask

49:10 ↗ you will see here in portland although

49:12 ↗ portland had in that previous example

49:16 ↗ both a step model

49:18 ↗ and

49:20 ↗ the postcard model

49:21 ↗ because they have a process and then

49:24 ↗ they have a i'm going to call this the

49:26 ↗ postcard model is what stephanie's

49:29 ↗ opinion is a cheat sheet let's have

49:32 ↗ have this in front of us to really be

49:35 ↗ asking these questions when we're

49:37 ↗ reviewing you know policies programs uh

49:41 ↗ budgetary items

49:43 ↗ this gets it you know i

49:45 ↗ you know many questions but you know i

49:48 ↗ summarize it to the why

49:50 ↗ why what who where

49:53 ↗ you know when how

49:55 ↗ um in greater detail briefly describe

49:58 ↗ the proposed action whatever it is

50:02 ↗ um what are the desired results let's

50:04 ↗ let's think about those at the forefront

50:07 ↗ who are the racial ethnic groups

50:08 ↗ affected by this action and how will

50:10 ↗ each group be affected

50:12 ↗ i'm not gonna in the interest of time

50:15 ↗ read all of these

50:16 ↗ because you do have them in your

50:18 ↗ materials

50:19 ↗ because i think one of the things is

50:21 ↗ we're getting close on time here

50:24 ↗ is to just introduce you to a couple

50:26 ↗ different models

50:28 ↗ uh and then we can talk about you know

50:30 ↗ how we get into

50:32 ↗ uh

50:32 ↗ focusing on what this you know equity

50:36 ↗ board

50:37 ↗ uh

50:38 ↗ you know recommends to the city council

50:41 ↗ other thoughts and things that we need

50:43 ↗ to consider so i'm gonna go on again um

50:46 ↗ to

50:47 ↗ um our consultant uh shannon kelly ray

50:52 ↗ she has used a postcard

50:54 ↗ model

50:55 ↗ uh she has a standard set of questions

50:58 ↗ for uh self-reflection questions for

51:01 ↗ community decision making these are very

51:04 ↗ much like portland's in the previous

51:06 ↗ slide

51:09 ↗ whenever you're looking at anything

51:10 ↗ before you in policy program or other

51:15 ↗ oh sorry monica will you go up i mean i

51:17 ↗ can choose kind of any of these have i

51:20 ↗ made any assumptions you know so i'm

51:22 ↗ thinking i'm using this tool as an

51:24 ↗ equity board member i'm using this tool

51:26 ↗ as a city

51:28 ↗ staff member i'm using this tool uh you

51:31 ↗ know as as a council member have i made

51:34 ↗ any assumptions about the culture

51:35 ↗ identity genders abilities identities or

51:38 ↗ background of those affected by by

51:40 ↗ decision

51:41 ↗ these are key

51:42 ↗ tools that help us

51:45 ↗ kind of train our brain or think through

51:48 ↗ how

51:49 ↗ how we use this framework to help us in

51:52 ↗ our decision making to advance

51:54 ↗ uh you know access to programs racial

51:57 ↗ equity and all the great work uh that

52:00 ↗ we're that we're all doing to advance

52:02 ↗ this work

52:03 ↗ so again this is another example of the

52:05 ↗ postcard model from shannon

52:08 ↗ and then i think we also have if you'd

52:10 ↗ advance monica

52:15 ↗ we also have

52:16 ↗ a simple three question model from

52:20 ↗ one of the other consultants that i've

52:22 ↗ mentioned this evening bonita horn

52:25 ↗ three questions what are the racial

52:27 ↗ equity impacts of a particular decision

52:32 ↗ who will benefit or be burdened by the

52:34 ↗ particular decision

52:37 ↗ and are there strategies to mitigate

52:39 ↗ unintended consequences

52:43 ↗ so tonight we're introducing to you

52:46 ↗ these are part of the materials that the

52:48 ↗ council uh and the and

52:50 ↗ the staff have participated in the

52:53 ↗ training we have not talked equity

52:56 ↗ framework with our staff i i mentioned

52:58 ↗ that's an opportunity for training

53:00 ↗ organizationally

53:04 ↗ that july

53:05 ↗ council meeting is significant because

53:08 ↗ in terms of uh bringing you all up to

53:11 ↗ speed

53:12 ↗ because oh monica i mean yeah will you

53:15 ↗ go i just want to make sure i get those

53:17 ↗ last questions up on that last slide

53:20 ↗ um

53:21 ↗ so

53:22 ↗ i

53:23 ↗ i i mentioned that july 13th meeting

53:26 ↗ because that's the last time

53:28 ↗ uh the executive

53:30 ↗ administration went to the city council

53:33 ↗ and had an equity framework discussion

53:36 ↗ these two models were brought before the

53:39 ↗ council

53:41 ↗ chan and kelly ray facilitated a

53:43 ↗ conversation with the council

53:46 ↗ at that meeting

53:47 ↗ to introduce

53:49 ↗ uh both both models the step model

53:53 ↗ and the postcard model and to get

53:57 ↗ council feedback on what that looked

53:59 ↗ like

54:01 ↗ i can tell you in summary

54:03 ↗ the council really liked the idea of

54:08 ↗ the postcard

54:09 ↗ questions that they could sit before

54:12 ↗ them as decision makers

54:15 ↗ to say if we have a policy or something

54:18 ↗ before us

54:20 ↗ these are the questions we should be

54:21 ↗ asking as policymakers how this affects

54:24 ↗ our community

54:26 ↗ we left that meeting with some input

54:29 ↗ from the council

54:31 ↗ part of that

54:33 ↗ after that date in july

54:35 ↗ we began

54:37 ↗ uh forming this board the equity board

54:40 ↗ we told the council

54:42 ↗ that we would take their comments from

54:44 ↗ july

54:46 ↗ we would bring it back to our internal

54:48 ↗ equity team and we would come back in q4

54:53 ↗ other things pandemic and all happened

54:56 ↗ in q4 that needed us to push that

54:58 ↗ conversation to q1

55:01 ↗ but in the process of all of that this

55:03 ↗ board was formed

55:05 ↗ so one of the things that some of those

55:08 ↗ council members have asked

55:10 ↗ is that the equity board

55:13 ↗ you you all have input into a model a

55:18 ↗ model that we use as we evaluate

55:20 ↗ our programs our policies the tools that

55:23 ↗ we use

55:25 ↗ are you favorable of a step model are

55:28 ↗ you favorable of a postcard model

55:31 ↗ do you like both

55:33 ↗ do we start out with something small and

55:36 ↗ put something on you know

55:38 ↗ a next work plan for something greater

55:42 ↗ the thing i want to leave you with

55:43 ↗ tonight and i know i've taken up so much

55:46 ↗ time i'm so sorry i want to make sure

55:49 ↗ we were pausing and that you get what

55:52 ↗ you need to tonight

55:54 ↗ um i would really like this uh board to

55:58 ↗ consider

55:59 ↗ um

56:00 ↗ you know

56:01 ↗ would you like to see more models or

56:03 ↗ samples

56:05 ↗ uh would you be interested in framework

56:08 ↗ training that the council has has uh

56:12 ↗ received so far

56:14 ↗ um maybe you are familiar with a

56:17 ↗ framework uh that you've experienced

56:20 ↗ before

56:22 ↗ what do you need from us um internally

56:26 ↗ you know myself or monica or our team

56:30 ↗ how how would you like to be involved in

56:32 ↗ this process the k the city council

56:35 ↗ really values your input

56:37 ↗ on creation of a tool

56:39 ↗ and wants you to be a part of making

56:41 ↗ that and that this is you know a

56:44 ↗ collaborative effort between the

56:46 ↗ internal team

56:48 ↗ the council and you all

56:51 ↗ so with that said i've used up a lot of

56:53 ↗ time

56:54 ↗ i think we've talked about needing to

56:57 ↗ come back

56:59 ↗ if you have questions or thoughts

57:03 ↗ about how we can meaningfully come back

57:05 ↗ at the next meeting and how we advance

57:07 ↗ this work

57:09 ↗ you can filter those through monica you

57:12 ↗ can reach me uh you know i'm um you know

57:16 ↗ obviously internal staff as well

57:19 ↗ however we can work together to really

57:21 ↗ advance this work and start to create a

57:24 ↗ tool

57:25 ↗ our next goals

57:27 ↗ are to pilot a program using a

57:31 ↗ a tool

57:33 ↗ you know we don't have to create a tool

57:35 ↗ that's a one and done i think all of

57:37 ↗ this work is continuous so i think that

57:40 ↗ you know it's important to remember

57:43 ↗ like let's create something let's test

57:46 ↗ it out and then we can tweak and see if

57:48 ↗ it's working to the you know the way

57:50 ↗ that we wish for it to be

57:52 ↗ the last thing i want to do is for us to

57:55 ↗ all build a fancy tool

57:57 ↗ and it not meeting the intent of what

57:59 ↗ it's supposed to get to and advancing

58:02 ↗ this work

58:03 ↗ so

58:04 ↗ i encourage you all to think about you

58:08 ↗ know i mean just a framework a model

58:12 ↗ what would be really helpful for you all

58:15 ↗ council staff

58:17 ↗ and we think about you know how next how

58:20 ↗ next to to start to build that

58:24 ↗ all right

58:26 ↗ i think that's all i have unless there's

58:27 ↗ any other questions i know you have

58:29 ↗ other work to get to tonight

58:32 ↗ thank you so much stephanie i really

58:35 ↗ appreciate you going over that

58:36 ↗ presentation um i absolutely loved it

58:39 ↗ and i'm sure the rest of the members did

58:40 ↗ too

58:41 ↗ um i'd like to ask really quickly does

58:43 ↗ anyone else have any questions at this

58:45 ↗ point

58:49 ↗ all right looks like rey has a question

58:51 ↗ and then we'll follow that with kelly

58:53 ↗ i'm sorry kelly i just happened to see

58:54 ↗ ray first

58:58 ↗ hi stephanie can you hear me

59:00 ↗ i can hello

59:01 ↗ hi hello thank you for being here one of

59:04 ↗ the things that stood out to me is the

59:05 ↗ whole concept of

59:08 ↗ data and how that drives decision making

59:12 ↗ so i think we were given some

59:13 ↗ demographics regarding this

59:15 ↗ what exists here in the city but

59:18 ↗ to to maybe dissect that a little bit

59:20 ↗ more and this probably goes back to

59:22 ↗ myself and my colleagues here on the

59:23 ↗ equity board what is it that we are

59:25 ↗ trying to address

59:27 ↗ is it homelessness is it

59:30 ↗ equity through pay is it

59:33 ↗ sexual discrimination a lot of that

59:35 ↗ drives on us establishing what it is

59:37 ↗ that we're trying to achieve based on

59:39 ↗ the needs of our city

59:41 ↗ so if there was any data that was that

59:43 ↗ was created to maybe spur that thinking

59:46 ↗ or let us lead us down the correct path

59:48 ↗ i was curious about that or is that

59:50 ↗ something that's expected of us that we

59:52 ↗ worked with the appropriate entities to

59:54 ↗ to put that to

59:56 ↗ uh

59:58 ↗ compile that data that's what this

1:00:00 ↗ question is around data

1:00:04 ↗ and ray

1:00:05 ↗ you know i heard you in that comment say

1:00:08 ↗ you know this is a question for our team

1:00:10 ↗ i you know i think that's a dialogue

1:00:12 ↗ that you all y'all you all need to you

1:00:14 ↗ know decide

1:00:16 ↗ um i you know input to counsel on what

1:00:19 ↗ you believe you know is what you should

1:00:23 ↗ advance is i think i'm sure you know

1:00:25 ↗ part of what they're going to want to

1:00:26 ↗ hear about

1:00:28 ↗ you know i know in the work that i'm

1:00:31 ↗ doing internally is

1:00:33 ↗ advancing

1:00:34 ↗ that our

1:00:35 ↗ population in terms of

1:00:39 ↗ city staff and

1:00:41 ↗ the community that we reach is

1:00:43 ↗ representative of the community we serve

1:00:46 ↗ who are who we we need to be

1:00:48 ↗ communicating with everybody for all

1:00:50 ↗ things and that's a really big lift on a

1:00:52 ↗ lot of levels right

1:00:55 ↗ uh i i do know that we

1:00:59 ↗ um

1:01:00 ↗ we have we're in the baby steps

1:01:02 ↗ organizationally of putting some metric

1:01:04 ↗ to things i i do i heard you in terms of

1:01:07 ↗ metrics

1:01:08 ↗ um you know we're just

1:01:11 ↗ in 2020 um i can tell you from the hr

1:01:14 ↗ perspective we we started looking at the

1:01:16 ↗ demographics of board and commissions

1:01:18 ↗ that we'd never seen before we started

1:01:20 ↗ looking at the demographics of

1:01:22 ↗ city staff

1:01:24 ↗ you know we have uh equal opportunity

1:01:27 ↗ employment uh data that we have to

1:01:30 ↗ submit by annually

1:01:32 ↗ you know as a part of employment so i

1:01:35 ↗ keep a number of metrics but it's more

1:01:38 ↗ internal staff focused uh you know and

1:01:41 ↗ i'm gonna

1:01:42 ↗ phone a friend and monica that she may

1:01:44 ↗ be able to help advance this team in

1:01:46 ↗ that conversation

1:01:48 ↗ um but i i think we're i think we're at

1:01:51 ↗ the beginning stages of all that thought

1:01:53 ↗ dumping right um

1:01:55 ↗ along with you know what council's

1:01:57 ↗ expectations and and this team forming

1:02:00 ↗ that up so

1:02:01 ↗ i don't know that i have a super great

1:02:03 ↗ answer because you had a lot there but i

1:02:05 ↗ also heard that uh this was really kind

1:02:07 ↗ of a posed question to this team to

1:02:09 ↗ think about data and what our end goal

1:02:12 ↗ and line is and what we should be

1:02:15 ↗ working on next

1:02:17 ↗ yes you hit a run on the nose

1:02:22 ↗ thank you for that great question ray

1:02:25 ↗ um kelly are you ready to pose your

1:02:27 ↗ question

1:02:28 ↗ yes thank you

1:02:30 ↗ um

1:02:31 ↗ you probably said this and i just missed

1:02:33 ↗ it but the framework that is being built

1:02:35 ↗ it is going to be used by

1:02:38 ↗ who

1:02:40 ↗ i think it's going to be used by

1:02:43 ↗ a bunch of different audiences and um

1:02:46 ↗ here's the other you know i don't know

1:02:48 ↗ if this is the greatest answer but we

1:02:51 ↗ get to we get to create who uses it

1:02:54 ↗ we we we know that the city council

1:02:57 ↗ wants to use a tool in their decision

1:02:59 ↗ making when items are before them

1:03:02 ↗ we want you all to think about this as a

1:03:05 ↗ tool as you're advancing work in any

1:03:08 ↗ particular area

1:03:09 ↗ and every department i i'm envisioning

1:03:12 ↗ every department is responsible for

1:03:14 ↗ looking at the programs and the policies

1:03:17 ↗ that we have and thinking about these

1:03:19 ↗ things

1:03:20 ↗ and and here's where i think the

1:03:23 ↗ these are the building blocks that where

1:03:25 ↗ rubber kind of meets the road

1:03:27 ↗ if the internal staff are asking the

1:03:29 ↗ same questions around building a policy

1:03:33 ↗ that then goes to the city council

1:03:36 ↗ and we've thought about it at this level

1:03:38 ↗ and then we're thinking about it the

1:03:40 ↗ decision level but then you all bringing

1:03:43 ↗ in the community

1:03:44 ↗ you know aspect

1:03:46 ↗ you're asking the same questions

1:03:48 ↗ eventually we're all using it asking the

1:03:50 ↗ same questions with different opinion

1:03:53 ↗ insight thought um and advancing that so

1:03:56 ↗ i i think it's

1:03:59 ↗ without having one before

1:04:02 ↗ i'm envisioning it's three

1:04:04 ↗ at least three audiences it's our staff

1:04:06 ↗ it's our board it's even you know a

1:04:09 ↗ community in the questions that these

1:04:10 ↗ become familiar to us this is our tool

1:04:13 ↗ and certainly counsel as the decision

1:04:15 ↗ maker

1:04:17 ↗ thank you

1:04:22 ↗ all right and i didn't see any other

1:04:24 ↗ hands or comments in the chat

1:04:28 ↗ but once again does anyone else have a

1:04:31 ↗ question they may want to ask while we

1:04:33 ↗ still have stephanie here with us

1:04:38 ↗ all right then i will say that if

1:04:40 ↗ there's nothing else stephanie we want

1:04:42 ↗ to thank you for joining us tonight

1:04:44 ↗ you've given us a lot to chew on

1:04:47 ↗ um i'm also going to offer

1:04:49 ↗ a break to the group if you all would

1:04:52 ↗ like to have one and i don't know if we

1:04:54 ↗ need to vote in in order to do that is

1:04:57 ↗ that correct monica

1:04:59 ↗ you can just do show of hands perhaps

1:05:01 ↗ you know if

1:05:03 ↗ folks yes can we give thumbs up for a

1:05:05 ↗ quick five minute break

1:05:07 ↗ all right it looks like we have the

1:05:09 ↗ majority of the group that's agreeing to

1:05:11 ↗ a five-minute break so we will

1:05:13 ↗ adjourn for a brief moment here um it is

1:05:16 ↗ now 7 10 so i would like to see us all

1:05:20 ↗ back here at 7 15.

1:05:22 ↗ everyone's ready

1:05:26 ↗ all right welcome back everyone

1:05:28 ↗ we um are back from our break and now

1:05:32 ↗ we're going to proceed with the next

1:05:34 ↗ three items on our agenda

1:05:36 ↗ we'll have monica talk with us about

1:05:38 ↗ cultural and religious holidays and then

1:05:41 ↗ we'll also have her

1:05:42 ↗ talk briefly about a member

1:05:45 ↗ proposed conversation um

1:05:48 ↗ and then lastly we'll have monica go

1:05:50 ↗ over the stacking report and then we

1:05:52 ↗ should be ready to close unless there's

1:05:54 ↗ any other business

1:05:58 ↗ monica are you ready

1:06:01 ↗ i certainly am thank you so much jay and

1:06:04 ↗ good evening again board members

1:06:07 ↗ uh good to be here with you and being

1:06:09 ↗ part of these great conversations

1:06:12 ↗ allow me just a moment to

1:06:14 ↗ start the powerpoint

1:06:16 ↗ adequately

1:06:18 ↗ hopefully

1:06:20 ↗ um

1:06:22 ↗ oh no not again

1:06:30 ↗ okay

1:06:31 ↗ we are all set

1:06:35 ↗ so

1:06:36 ↗ as you uh may remember last month we

1:06:40 ↗ started a great conversation

1:06:42 ↗ around cultural and religious holidays

1:06:47 ↗ to be acknowledged by our city

1:06:50 ↗ so tonight we are returning to you

1:06:53 ↗ to seek feedback on the updated um

1:06:56 ↗ proposed list of religious and cultural

1:06:58 ↗ holidays and hopefully if you feel

1:07:02 ↗ comfortable at the end we can make a

1:07:03 ↗ formal recommendation to the mayor

1:07:06 ↗ basically um

1:07:08 ↗ sending to the mayor

1:07:10 ↗ our list of holidays

1:07:13 ↗ just a brief background for those of you

1:07:15 ↗ who might have missed the meeting last

1:07:17 ↗ time

1:07:18 ↗ uh the administration tasked the equity

1:07:21 ↗ board

1:07:22 ↗ with creating a list of cultural and

1:07:25 ↗ religious

1:07:26 ↗ holidays the city should take into

1:07:29 ↗ consideration when scheduling

1:07:32 ↗ public meetings

1:07:38 ↗ and so the question

1:07:41 ↗ that some of you might ask or

1:07:43 ↗ other community members is why should

1:07:46 ↗ the city acknowledge holidays

1:07:49 ↗ so on one end

1:07:51 ↗ [Music]

1:07:53 ↗ oftentimes public meetings conducted at

1:07:56 ↗ the city uh whether they are city

1:07:59 ↗ council meetings

1:08:01 ↗ or boards and commission meetings

1:08:03 ↗ uh whether there are various community

1:08:06 ↗ engagement meetings

1:08:08 ↗ these are times coincide with religious

1:08:10 ↗ holidays observed by

1:08:13 ↗ other

1:08:14 ↗ religious groups or communities

1:08:16 ↗ and therefore

1:08:18 ↗ limit

1:08:19 ↗ participation from those groups

1:08:22 ↗ um on the other end

1:08:25 ↗ the city currently acknowledges certain

1:08:28 ↗ religious holidays especially those

1:08:31 ↗ observed

1:08:32 ↗ by the federal government um right um

1:08:35 ↗ christmas day for example right

1:08:38 ↗ and so

1:08:39 ↗ therefore

1:08:40 ↗ we have an opportunity to really

1:08:43 ↗ promote community respect to promote

1:08:46 ↗ inclusion

1:08:49 ↗ have

1:08:50 ↗ a welcoming feeling to

1:08:53 ↗ um

1:08:54 ↗ community groups that belong to other

1:08:56 ↗ religions and not just those celebrated

1:08:59 ↗ by mainstream society

1:09:01 ↗ um and we also have an opportunity to

1:09:03 ↗ formalize our commitment as a city to

1:09:08 ↗ diversity and inclusion

1:09:12 ↗ [Music]

1:09:14 ↗ interpreters please

1:09:16 ↗ let me know if you

1:09:19 ↗ need me to slow down even more i am

1:09:21 ↗ really really trying

1:09:24 ↗ um

1:09:25 ↗ so the approach that we used in creating

1:09:28 ↗ this list

1:09:30 ↗ um we did a few different things on one

1:09:33 ↗ end as we often do um we started

1:09:36 ↗ researching what other local and

1:09:39 ↗ regional jurisdictions might have in

1:09:41 ↗ place

1:09:42 ↗ um we also provided some data and we did

1:09:45 ↗ some research on the issaquah specific

1:09:48 ↗ demographics

1:09:49 ↗ um to see

1:09:51 ↗ what does issaquah look like in terms of

1:09:53 ↗ demographics and religious communities

1:09:57 ↗ we contacted directly

1:09:59 ↗ either community members or religious

1:10:02 ↗ groups or religious

1:10:03 ↗ leaders in issaquah to ask for input

1:10:06 ↗ and we also asked your input as a board

1:10:12 ↗ and so last time during our meeting we

1:10:14 ↗ received feedback from you and i'm

1:10:17 ↗ summarizing it um

1:10:20 ↗ we heard from you that

1:10:22 ↗ there was interest in learning specific

1:10:24 ↗ about information about specific

1:10:28 ↗ apologize ethnicities included in the

1:10:30 ↗ asian demographic shared um if you

1:10:33 ↗ remember uh 23 percent of uh the eso

1:10:37 ↗ class population is of asian descent and

1:10:40 ↗ one of the great great questions that

1:10:42 ↗ you had was okay within that asian

1:10:45 ↗ population can we break it down even

1:10:48 ↗ more can we have additional information

1:10:50 ↗ to learn

1:10:52 ↗ more about that um

1:10:54 ↗ we also heard from you

1:10:56 ↗ interest in getting additional community

1:10:58 ↗ input on these dates

1:11:00 ↗ um we also heard from you that we should

1:11:02 ↗ consider adding the holidays associated

1:11:05 ↗ with the christian religions also so

1:11:07 ↗ then we have uh really uh

1:11:09 ↗ um a broad um

1:11:12 ↗ list that's inclusive of all um

1:11:16 ↗ religions

1:11:18 ↗ or perhaps not even all

1:11:21 ↗ as many as possible especially that are

1:11:23 ↗ represented in issaquah

1:11:25 ↗ we also heard feedback about

1:11:27 ↗ adding more cultural holidays um

1:11:30 ↗ and native american holidays so he

1:11:32 ↗ wanted us to consider expanding that

1:11:34 ↗ list

1:11:35 ↗ um and then making a difference between

1:11:38 ↗ the cultural and religious holidays

1:11:43 ↗ uh further we heard from you that we

1:11:46 ↗ should consider having um a calendar

1:11:49 ↗ that's more comprehensive than the one

1:11:50 ↗ they presented last time

1:11:53 ↗ and perhaps

1:11:56 ↗ indicate certain cultural and religious

1:11:58 ↗ holidays

1:12:00 ↗ that we the city should avoid scheduling

1:12:02 ↗ public meetings

1:12:04 ↗ but as well perhaps include

1:12:06 ↗ other holidays um that should be

1:12:09 ↗ recognized and celebrated celebrated not

1:12:12 ↗ just

1:12:13 ↗ be avoided um

1:12:15 ↗ by um

1:12:17 ↗ when scheduling public meetings

1:12:20 ↗ um you also told us that

1:12:24 ↗ we should work directly with community

1:12:25 ↗ partners and organizations

1:12:28 ↗ um and again to clearly define the

1:12:31 ↗ criteria

1:12:32 ↗ that we are using to determine

1:12:35 ↗ what is on the list of those holidays

1:12:38 ↗ and that

1:12:39 ↗ we should not schedule public meetings

1:12:41 ↗ on

1:12:44 ↗ so with that we included

1:12:46 ↗ your feedback we did research on the

1:12:49 ↗ asian

1:12:51 ↗ communities represented in isequa and i

1:12:53 ↗ have some information on that

1:12:55 ↗ we expanded the list we defined the

1:12:58 ↗ criteria and we did contact community

1:13:00 ↗ groups

1:13:03 ↗ so on to defining the criteria um

1:13:07 ↗ you have in addition to the powerpoint

1:13:09 ↗ presentation that's on the screen

1:13:12 ↗ in your agenda packet you have the

1:13:14 ↗ entire list um that is preceded by this

1:13:18 ↗ definition of what this list is what

1:13:21 ↗ um and the criteria that's on the screen

1:13:24 ↗ um so

1:13:26 ↗ we um have an extensive list of holidays

1:13:29 ↗ that are divided in three groups

1:13:32 ↗ um

1:13:33 ↗ there are holidays that are highlighted

1:13:35 ↗ in the red

1:13:37 ↗ um and they are marked with an asterisks

1:13:40 ↗ and these are the ones that we are note

1:13:42 ↗ that the city should make every effort

1:13:45 ↗ to avoid public meetings on these dates

1:13:50 ↗ these holidays are religious holidays

1:13:52 ↗ that typically include work restrictions

1:13:55 ↗ they might also require fasting

1:13:59 ↗ or they really have a special

1:14:01 ↗ significance in one's religion or

1:14:03 ↗ cultural so on all of those holidays

1:14:06 ↗ that are marked in red uh we um vetted

1:14:10 ↗ those um with community members

1:14:14 ↗ pertaining to a specific cultural

1:14:16 ↗ religion

1:14:18 ↗ a second list of holidays those that are

1:14:22 ↗ i believe the color is

1:14:24 ↗ gray

1:14:25 ↗ just

1:14:26 ↗ the regular color most of the holidays

1:14:28 ↗ included on the list

1:14:30 ↗ um these are um additional holidays and

1:14:32 ↗ they can be both religious or cultural

1:14:35 ↗ um but they are provided to um

1:14:39 ↗ really as you

1:14:40 ↗ uh rightfully so provided feedback

1:14:43 ↗ to offer opportunities to city staff and

1:14:47 ↗ to the community to increase awareness

1:14:51 ↗ and promote

1:14:53 ↗ understanding and diversity in our

1:14:55 ↗ community

1:14:57 ↗ so city staff should take into

1:14:59 ↗ consideration these holidays and

1:15:00 ↗ scheduling meetings

1:15:02 ↗ but they don't hold let's say the same

1:15:08 ↗ religious significance as those marked

1:15:11 ↗ in red um for example there might be a

1:15:14 ↗ holiday

1:15:15 ↗ that um

1:15:17 ↗ it's a hindu holiday and it's not marked

1:15:20 ↗ in red um city staff

1:15:23 ↗ can

1:15:25 ↗ highlight that holiday learn more about

1:15:28 ↗ it and they can depending on the type of

1:15:31 ↗ community engagement that they have or

1:15:33 ↗ plan to do

1:15:35 ↗ they can take that into consideration

1:15:37 ↗ let's say if they want to engage with

1:15:40 ↗ communities of asian descent knowing

1:15:42 ↗ that that's a hindu holiday

1:15:45 ↗ they might think and reconsider their

1:15:48 ↗ decision to schedule a meeting on that

1:15:50 ↗ day

1:15:51 ↗ but perhaps if um

1:15:54 ↗ they can use that information if they

1:15:55 ↗ know that there perhaps there's a hindu

1:15:58 ↗ celebration somewhere else they might

1:16:00 ↗ take that um information into

1:16:02 ↗ consideration and perhaps join that

1:16:04 ↗ celebration so and it doesn't have

1:16:08 ↗ the same rigor with um trying to

1:16:11 ↗ really absolutely avoid um scheduling a

1:16:14 ↗ public meeting

1:16:16 ↗ it is more

1:16:18 ↗ to increase staff knowledge to increase

1:16:20 ↗ public knowledge and awareness and to

1:16:22 ↗ learn

1:16:23 ↗ about that holiday

1:16:26 ↗ um

1:16:27 ↗ and

1:16:28 ↗ third then we have we included the

1:16:30 ↗ federal holidays and these are

1:16:32 ↗ highlighted in green

1:16:34 ↗ and they are really just um

1:16:37 ↗ to note um that these are holidays that

1:16:40 ↗ automatically are recognized by the

1:16:42 ↗ federal government city offices are

1:16:44 ↗ typically closed

1:16:46 ↗ um and so they're just there to be

1:16:48 ↗ included with the with the other

1:16:50 ↗ holidays as well

1:16:52 ↗ um

1:16:54 ↗ board members really i think um

1:16:57 ↗ the way we envision and we hope that

1:16:59 ↗ this list will

1:17:02 ↗ be utilized to begin with

1:17:04 ↗ as mentioned also last time i believe

1:17:07 ↗ that this

1:17:09 ↗ is just the first

1:17:10 ↗ step

1:17:12 ↗ into

1:17:13 ↗ increasing

1:17:15 ↗ diversity and inclusion in our city

1:17:18 ↗ i personally envision this as an

1:17:20 ↗ internal tool i would love to work with

1:17:23 ↗ our it team

1:17:25 ↗ and have all the holidays included in

1:17:28 ↗ our um microsoft outlook um in the

1:17:32 ↗ morning when we turn on the computer the

1:17:34 ↗ holiday will pop up on our screen and

1:17:36 ↗ outlook and we will also have a link

1:17:40 ↗ that we can just

1:17:41 ↗ access and learn more about that holiday

1:17:44 ↗ perhaps we can go further and provide

1:17:47 ↗ some

1:17:48 ↗ um appropriate greetings or salutation

1:17:51 ↗ for that holiday

1:17:53 ↗ where then people can can learn more

1:17:56 ↗ about that so that's one way that i

1:17:58 ↗ envision this tool being used internally

1:18:00 ↗ by city staff but i also see this as a

1:18:03 ↗ tool that as some of you recommended

1:18:06 ↗ last time we promoted in the community

1:18:09 ↗ and the community can also access it to

1:18:12 ↗ learn and also be aware and increase

1:18:14 ↗ awareness of what's out there in the

1:18:16 ↗ community and what other communities are

1:18:18 ↗ doing

1:18:21 ↗ so with that um since last meeting we

1:18:24 ↗ reached out

1:18:25 ↗ to

1:18:26 ↗ a variety of communities um and we

1:18:30 ↗ engaged either with individual members

1:18:32 ↗ families

1:18:34 ↗ or religious groups

1:18:36 ↗ and as i mentioned this is the beginning

1:18:38 ↗ some of the work is still in progress

1:18:40 ↗ for example um we had built

1:18:43 ↗ since um

1:18:44 ↗ a year and a half ago actually when we

1:18:47 ↗ first started the work on

1:18:50 ↗ creating the equity board

1:18:53 ↗ we engaged with the baha'i community in

1:18:56 ↗ isoquant and they've been

1:18:58 ↗ faithful um

1:19:01 ↗ supporters of our work since the very

1:19:03 ↗ beginning

1:19:04 ↗ and um

1:19:06 ↗ while they really are

1:19:08 ↗ um very supportive and um

1:19:11 ↗ approved

1:19:12 ↗ the holidays that um

1:19:15 ↗ we we included on in the list um they

1:19:18 ↗ are also preparing a more

1:19:20 ↗ um

1:19:21 ↗ list for us where we continue to have an

1:19:24 ↗ opportunity to learn about um their

1:19:27 ↗ community and so i'm hoping that we can

1:19:29 ↗ continue to do that with all of the uh

1:19:32 ↗ cultural and religious groups that we

1:19:35 ↗ engage with or those that we

1:19:38 ↗ still need to continue to engage with

1:19:42 ↗ so

1:19:43 ↗ um questions and discussions for us

1:19:46 ↗ tonight

1:19:47 ↗ um

1:19:48 ↗ is the list

1:19:49 ↗ reflective of the feedback that you

1:19:51 ↗ provided to us last month

1:19:53 ↗ and do you feel comfortable that it can

1:19:55 ↗ be used as a

1:19:57 ↗ pilot

1:19:58 ↗ to um

1:20:01 ↗ to start us off somewhere and then

1:20:03 ↗ continue to vetted with the community

1:20:06 ↗ and with other religious groups

1:20:09 ↗ um

1:20:10 ↗ and with that the options that we would

1:20:12 ↗ have tonight would be to recommend that

1:20:15 ↗ the proposed list be sent to the mayor

1:20:19 ↗ to use

1:20:20 ↗ by the city as a tool when scheduling

1:20:22 ↗ public meetings and with that as we post

1:20:25 ↗ the list and we invite the community to

1:20:27 ↗ continue to add to the list and continue

1:20:30 ↗ to provide uh input

1:20:33 ↗ um or

1:20:34 ↗ um

1:20:35 ↗ you can propose something else if you

1:20:37 ↗ don't feel comfortable and you feel that

1:20:39 ↗ we should continue the work and we

1:20:40 ↗ should do additional work um that's

1:20:42 ↗ certainly an option

1:20:44 ↗ um as well

1:20:46 ↗ so

1:20:47 ↗ our recommendation

1:20:49 ↗ it is to review and finalize the list if

1:20:51 ↗ we can and start somewhere and make a

1:20:53 ↗ recommendation to the mayor to start

1:20:56 ↗ piloting it um

1:20:58 ↗ however as as i said certainly we would

1:21:01 ↗ want your input and we would not want to

1:21:03 ↗ start if if you don't believe that um

1:21:06 ↗ it is in a place where

1:21:09 ↗ um

1:21:10 ↗ this can be used

1:21:12 ↗ and i did not um again you have it in

1:21:14 ↗ your packet though the list is there i'm

1:21:17 ↗ happy to pull it off and share it on the

1:21:19 ↗ screen as well it's a pretty extensive

1:21:21 ↗ list though

1:21:23 ↗ and um

1:21:24 ↗ i'm very very thankful many of you

1:21:26 ↗ actually participated individually in

1:21:29 ↗ providing resources or um

1:21:32 ↗ also in consulting with with me i really

1:21:34 ↗ appreciate this

1:21:36 ↗ lorna for example shared last time and

1:21:38 ↗ she brings the school district

1:21:40 ↗ perspective i consulted with her but

1:21:42 ↗ also with pretty and with jacob and with

1:21:45 ↗ other members as well so thank you

1:21:48 ↗ so much for all the individual extra

1:21:50 ↗ work that you also put in this in

1:21:51 ↗ addition to the other committee members

1:21:54 ↗ so i'm gonna shut up and look forward to

1:21:57 ↗ your comments and questions

1:21:59 ↗ thank you so much monica for that

1:22:02 ↗ explanation on the cultural and

1:22:04 ↗ religious holidays

1:22:06 ↗ um i saw that lucretia and prefe both

1:22:09 ↗ had a comment

1:22:11 ↗ um so lucretia i happen to see your

1:22:13 ↗ comment first so if you would go first

1:22:16 ↗ and then followed by pretty and then of

1:22:18 ↗ course we'll jump to anyone else if they

1:22:20 ↗ have comments or questions

1:22:23 ↗ if my question was covered in the last

1:22:25 ↗ meeting um just tell me to

1:22:28 ↗ give me a resource monica to where i can

1:22:30 ↗ read about it but if it hasn't been

1:22:32 ↗ covered my question is

1:22:34 ↗ um so when i looked at the documents for

1:22:37 ↗ today's meeting i was curious you know

1:22:39 ↗ like where how did we come up with

1:22:42 ↗ you know the the dates that we're

1:22:44 ↗ recognizing for each culture

1:22:46 ↗ and so i went into

1:22:48 ↗ the japanese culture simply because i

1:22:49 ↗ think it was one of the first ones or

1:22:51 ↗ something like that

1:22:53 ↗ it talked about shinto

1:22:55 ↗ religion

1:22:56 ↗ and so i went on to the national

1:22:59 ↗ um calendar for japan to see what's

1:23:01 ↗ recognized

1:23:03 ↗ and i want to say maybe a tenth of those

1:23:05 ↗ that were that were listing were listed

1:23:07 ↗ there so then i was

1:23:09 ↗ you know wondering you know like if in

1:23:12 ↗ the culture that we're trying to be

1:23:15 ↗ mindful of and inclusive of

1:23:17 ↗ if they themselves aren't celebrating

1:23:18 ↗ those things in their country like how

1:23:21 ↗ are we coming up with them

1:23:22 ↗ to celebrate them here

1:23:24 ↗ right because

1:23:26 ↗ i guess i'm trying to gauge like what

1:23:28 ↗ criteria are we using to bring those to

1:23:31 ↗ the that count that community calendar

1:23:33 ↗ so that it doesn't become kind of like

1:23:35 ↗ an overwhelming sort of like every day

1:23:37 ↗ is

1:23:38 ↗ is a holiday or every day you know like

1:23:41 ↗ where do we be where would we where do

1:23:43 ↗ we begin to discern

1:23:46 ↗ the why i guess

1:23:48 ↗ and it's

1:23:49 ↗ you know it could be that we want to be

1:23:51 ↗ more

1:23:52 ↗ involved or we want to include more

1:23:55 ↗ uh religious holidays that other

1:23:57 ↗ countries don't i mean i i honestly

1:23:59 ↗ don't know what the answer to that is

1:24:00 ↗ thank you yeah

1:24:02 ↗ thank you lucy and welcome to the

1:24:04 ↗ challenge i think this is the biggest

1:24:06 ↗ challenge and i think we did start a

1:24:08 ↗ little bit the conversation last year

1:24:09 ↗ like where last month where is that

1:24:12 ↗ limit between

1:24:14 ↗ um

1:24:15 ↗ you know definitely wanting to be very

1:24:17 ↗ welcoming and inclusive but at the same

1:24:20 ↗ time still being able to conduct public

1:24:24 ↗ meetings um because if we do uh

1:24:26 ↗ acknowledge all of them

1:24:28 ↗ you know there's something every week

1:24:29 ↗ that we are not going to be able to

1:24:31 ↗ actually conduct business at the city

1:24:33 ↗ right so that's kind of like uh the the

1:24:35 ↗ tough decision and the conversation that

1:24:38 ↗ uh led to to great input from the board

1:24:41 ↗ in saying okay let's have a reduced list

1:24:44 ↗ of those that we really strongly

1:24:46 ↗ encourage whenever possible not to

1:24:48 ↗ schedule meetings on but then let's be

1:24:50 ↗ more comprehensive and expand the list

1:24:54 ↗ to really show our inclusion um and it

1:24:56 ↗ doesn't we don't need to have a

1:24:58 ↗ celebration every week but i think

1:25:00 ↗ having a uh

1:25:02 ↗ encouraging staff and community members

1:25:04 ↗ to read about a religion or a holiday

1:25:07 ↗ that they are not familiar with just

1:25:09 ↗ increases everyone's awareness and

1:25:11 ↗ there's an opportunity for let's say i

1:25:14 ↗ have a meeting this afternoon with a

1:25:16 ↗ regional meeting with other

1:25:17 ↗ jurisdictions and i happen to know that

1:25:20 ↗ okay this is a religion

1:25:22 ↗ this is a holiday celebrated

1:25:24 ↗ by the japanese culture and i happen to

1:25:27 ↗ know that my colleague from kirkland is

1:25:29 ↗ of japanese descent i might just start a

1:25:32 ↗ conversation and say hey i read about

1:25:34 ↗ this culture and maybe i also read about

1:25:36 ↗ this greeting and i want to start a

1:25:38 ↗ conversation that way does that make

1:25:40 ↗ sense so i think that's kind of like the

1:25:42 ↗ intent for use but then going back to

1:25:45 ↗ how we started

1:25:46 ↗ um as um

1:25:48 ↗ noted earlier so we started first with

1:25:51 ↗ what did others do and what

1:25:53 ↗ is some information out there that's

1:25:55 ↗ been curated

1:25:57 ↗ and um used by others who are a little

1:26:00 ↗ bit further along than we are so we

1:26:02 ↗ started that as a basis and then we

1:26:05 ↗ tried to apply it to issaquah and try to

1:26:08 ↗ reach out to community members to the

1:26:10 ↗ example in particular that you said said

1:26:14 ↗ the shinto religion is the one that we

1:26:16 ↗ did not reach out to because we did not

1:26:18 ↗ i personally we did not find someone in

1:26:20 ↗ issaquah from that

1:26:23 ↗ religion to really vet to even ask

1:26:27 ↗ are these the right holidays should we

1:26:29 ↗ do it this is just information that we

1:26:32 ↗ found we used the foundation of the work

1:26:35 ↗ was some work that was used um by

1:26:38 ↗ berkeley in california by the city of

1:26:40 ↗ berkeley so that was our starting point

1:26:42 ↗ and then from there we made we made it

1:26:45 ↗ issaquah if that makes sense we

1:26:47 ↗ we made it more specific to isoquant

1:26:51 ↗ so does that help answer the question

1:26:55 ↗ yeah i think my question was more around

1:26:57 ↗ like how do we

1:26:58 ↗ i think you try you you you try to

1:27:01 ↗ address it in

1:27:03 ↗ in terms of like if we're trying to hold

1:27:04 ↗ these meetings like where do we begin

1:27:06 ↗ and end to like

1:27:08 ↗ actually be able to hold meetings and

1:27:10 ↗ it's ironic that of course i had to pick

1:27:11 ↗ shinto

1:27:13 ↗ um as my you know kind of like my test

1:27:15 ↗ spaces and then that's the one that you

1:27:17 ↗ didn't get feedback on so

1:27:19 ↗ anyway i guess i'm just trying to say

1:27:22 ↗ i guess maybe what i'm trying to say is

1:27:24 ↗ if in the country

1:27:26 ↗ that we're trying to be inclusive of

1:27:28 ↗ those holidays are not being

1:27:30 ↗ celebrated and or people aren't taking

1:27:32 ↗ time off

1:27:34 ↗ like i think maybe we could also use

1:27:36 ↗ that as a gauge for like when we

1:27:39 ↗ don't have meetings but that's it yes

1:27:41 ↗ thank you

1:27:42 ↗ yes and and we did that and i think one

1:27:44 ↗ of my lessons that i would like to share

1:27:46 ↗ with you all is that i learned that the

1:27:49 ↗ more i learned the less i realized that

1:27:52 ↗ i know because there are many many many

1:27:55 ↗ more holidays than the ones that we

1:27:56 ↗ highlighted in red that actually have

1:27:59 ↗ work restrictions and offices are closed

1:28:02 ↗ and public meetings are closed and it's

1:28:04 ↗ becoming overwhelming and so i think

1:28:08 ↗ i

1:28:09 ↗ i would love to be there where you

1:28:11 ↗ mentioned lucrecia i'm a little bit

1:28:13 ↗ fearful that actually we'd not cover all

1:28:16 ↗ the major ones to be respectful

1:28:18 ↗ of um

1:28:20 ↗ the entire community and that's why i

1:28:22 ↗ would like for us to pilot it and

1:28:24 ↗ hear from those that perhaps we didn't

1:28:26 ↗ even know that we should hear uh from

1:28:29 ↗ um because yeah that's

1:28:31 ↗ yeah

1:28:32 ↗ and we actually to just one more example

1:28:36 ↗ uh we did hear from um committee members

1:28:38 ↗ of our um from um islamic background we

1:28:43 ↗ actually took off two holidays based on

1:28:46 ↗ their recommendation and they said they

1:28:48 ↗ told us it's going in too much detail

1:28:51 ↗ it's not helpful

1:28:53 ↗ just use these and that's very

1:28:55 ↗ respectful and that was feedback well

1:28:58 ↗ received because like i think that's

1:29:00 ↗ where you are trying to go lucrezia you

1:29:02 ↗ don't want to go overboard and then

1:29:05 ↗ try to be

1:29:06 ↗ um

1:29:08 ↗ overly

1:29:10 ↗ right um

1:29:13 ↗ i i guess i would like to say that if

1:29:15 ↗ we're if we're trying to be

1:29:17 ↗ equitable

1:29:19 ↗ and correct anyone please jump in if i'm

1:29:21 ↗ not correct in saying this if you know

1:29:24 ↗ our national holidays are five i don't

1:29:26 ↗ know how many there are but there are

1:29:27 ↗ five

1:29:28 ↗ but maybe other other um

1:29:32 ↗ majority minority groups

1:29:34 ↗ also get five do you know what i'm

1:29:36 ↗ saying and and have people

1:29:38 ↗ pick and choose those right

1:29:40 ↗ because

1:29:42 ↗ i mean like if i think of like a

1:29:43 ↗ catholic country

1:29:45 ↗ i mean we're gonna have a holiday every

1:29:47 ↗ day right so i guess i'm just trying to

1:29:49 ↗ say like

1:29:51 ↗ we need to figure out

1:29:53 ↗ how many we're doing per culture

1:29:56 ↗ and give that and give that community

1:29:58 ↗ the voice to pick those holidays

1:30:01 ↗ yeah but anyway that's just another idea

1:30:04 ↗ thank you and and that's i think we gave

1:30:06 ↗ the communities the voice to tell us we

1:30:09 ↗ did not want to limit it to number we

1:30:11 ↗ just basically when we reached out to

1:30:13 ↗ them we told them hey

1:30:15 ↗ this is an initial list that we were

1:30:17 ↗ thinking about can you give us your

1:30:18 ↗ feedback um are these the right holidays

1:30:22 ↗ if we were to make the difference

1:30:24 ↗ between the ones that we strongly

1:30:25 ↗ encouraged to

1:30:27 ↗ uh the city not to have holidays which

1:30:29 ↗ ones should be those and so i think i

1:30:32 ↗ think we heard from them from

1:30:35 ↗ that perspective so that's where we got

1:30:37 ↗ to where we are now

1:30:38 ↗ um

1:30:39 ↗ but again i think that's why we should

1:30:41 ↗ also test it with the larger community

1:30:43 ↗ right

1:30:45 ↗ so thank you for that

1:30:49 ↗ thank you so much lucretia you always

1:30:52 ↗ have really insightful information so i

1:30:54 ↗ loved your questions

1:30:55 ↗ um

1:30:56 ↗ we have preethi who's next and then i

1:30:59 ↗ have a question about the calendar as

1:31:01 ↗ well um if we don't have anyone else

1:31:03 ↗ that wants to ask a question

1:31:07 ↗ yeah thank you shay

1:31:08 ↗ um

1:31:09 ↗ so i'll just you know say like

1:31:12 ↗ i

1:31:12 ↗ i was really impressed with the calendar

1:31:14 ↗ so i just want to give you all kudos for

1:31:16 ↗ that um

1:31:18 ↗ i

1:31:19 ↗ i

1:31:19 ↗ to me it feels like it's in a good

1:31:21 ↗ enough shape to kind of

1:31:23 ↗ pile it out or test out either

1:31:25 ↗ internally or you know i think it might

1:31:27 ↗ be a decision whether to make it public

1:31:29 ↗ yet i think if you make it public

1:31:32 ↗ um you may want to have a space you know

1:31:34 ↗ like a little opera like a forum where

1:31:36 ↗ people can chat in feedback or you know

1:31:39 ↗ nominate other cultures for the same

1:31:41 ↗ type of inclusion

1:31:43 ↗ but um

1:31:45 ↗ so that way it's kind of it make it

1:31:47 ↗ clear that this is something that's

1:31:49 ↗ still alive and um

1:31:51 ↗ changing and evolving based on feedback

1:31:54 ↗ um

1:31:55 ↗ i

1:31:56 ↗ you know i'm just you know reflecting on

1:31:58 ↗ like if i were in a community meeting

1:32:01 ↗ and it were you know some sort of indian

1:32:02 ↗ holiday and it was just acknowledged

1:32:04 ↗ that would go a long way towards you

1:32:07 ↗ know uh fostering that sense of

1:32:09 ↗ belonging and welcoming in a community

1:32:11 ↗ so i really um think it's a great start

1:32:13 ↗ to doing that or continuing in that

1:32:15 ↗ process so i i do want to just share

1:32:18 ↗ that and yeah we don't want perfection

1:32:20 ↗ to be the enemy of progress so i say

1:32:22 ↗ let's yeah take the next

1:32:24 ↗ step thanks

1:32:27 ↗ thank you so much chrissy

1:32:29 ↗ thank you pretty great comment i loved

1:32:32 ↗ it um and i have a question partial

1:32:35 ↗ comment kind of thing

1:32:37 ↗ um i and and monica correct me if i'm

1:32:39 ↗ wrong i think that we

1:32:42 ↗ are still considering this calendar a

1:32:44 ↗ really fluid thing that could possibly

1:32:46 ↗ change throughout

1:32:48 ↗ um

1:32:49 ↗ as we grow as an organization in a group

1:32:52 ↗ um

1:32:53 ↗ so

1:32:54 ↗ i think it's worth mentioning that the

1:32:56 ↗ effort and the work has been put in and

1:33:00 ↗ it's been done very well and maybe we

1:33:03 ↗ just need to let the public know that if

1:33:05 ↗ there's something that we've missed

1:33:07 ↗ let us know give us that feedback so

1:33:09 ↗ that we can make those adjustments when

1:33:12 ↗ needed

1:33:13 ↗ because to

1:33:14 ↗ everyone's point it's going to be long

1:33:17 ↗ and outdrawn if we find ourselves

1:33:19 ↗ putting every single holiday that

1:33:21 ↗ everyone feels might be important and um

1:33:24 ↗ that's not to say that it's not

1:33:26 ↗ important however it's unrealistic to

1:33:28 ↗ believe that we're all gonna be we're

1:33:30 ↗ gonna be able to celebrate these all

1:33:32 ↗ these things or have

1:33:33 ↗ um meetings

1:33:35 ↗ postponed for

1:33:37 ↗ all these events and

1:33:39 ↗ um unfortunately it's just not realistic

1:33:42 ↗ um so i think it's worth saying you know

1:33:45 ↗ hey we've done a great job we really are

1:33:47 ↗ trying if there's something we can put

1:33:48 ↗ in there for you let us know and we'll

1:33:50 ↗ work through it to make sure that we can

1:33:54 ↗ present ourselves in the best light

1:34:00 ↗ thank you i appreciate it

1:34:02 ↗ and i believe lorna also has a comment

1:34:04 ↗ or a question for both

1:34:07 ↗ my apologies lorna i did not see a

1:34:10 ↗ there

1:34:11 ↗ it was my fault i put it in under host

1:34:14 ↗ um i just wanted to address

1:34:16 ↗ lucretia i don't know if we can do

1:34:18 ↗ equality

1:34:19 ↗ for the religious calendar because i

1:34:21 ↗ don't know if we can say

1:34:23 ↗ hindus get five holidays muslims get

1:34:25 ↗ five holidays with this get five

1:34:27 ↗ holidays because

1:34:28 ↗ i'm just wondering if the celebrations

1:34:31 ↗ and the needs are different

1:34:33 ↗ so you know for me it's really about

1:34:35 ↗ what the religion or the culture needs

1:34:38 ↗ for example in talking i work with a

1:34:41 ↗ family advisory group in the district

1:34:43 ↗ and talking to a lot of our families

1:34:46 ↗ about indian they said you know

1:34:48 ↗ and we don't want the school to go out

1:34:50 ↗ of their way to cancel events or do

1:34:52 ↗ something different

1:34:53 ↗ because of our holiday as a family as a

1:34:56 ↗ community we have multiple days we can

1:34:58 ↗ do this we can do that because

1:35:00 ↗ they said they really wanted the kids

1:35:02 ↗ and many of those parents really focused

1:35:04 ↗ on the education and they wanted the

1:35:06 ↗ school to

1:35:08 ↗ have more flexibility in some of these

1:35:09 ↗ events

1:35:10 ↗ but acknowledging it was helpful but on

1:35:14 ↗ the other hand and talking to some of

1:35:16 ↗ the jewish rabbi that i worked with and

1:35:17 ↗ some of the jewish students

1:35:19 ↗ a lot of those celebrations were in the

1:35:21 ↗ temple

1:35:22 ↗ that it was really impactful and it was

1:35:25 ↗ really important that we acknowledge

1:35:27 ↗ many of those days because it was a day

1:35:29 ↗ that the students was really going to be

1:35:32 ↗ impacted and historically in our our

1:35:34 ↗ district

1:35:35 ↗ our students and our staff

1:35:38 ↗ have had many discussions about certain

1:35:41 ↗ days and so we try to go on to what

1:35:45 ↗ days were really impacting our students

1:35:48 ↗ and so in some religions we realized

1:35:51 ↗ that there were more need

1:35:52 ↗ and other religions the community told

1:35:55 ↗ us there was less of a need to really

1:35:58 ↗ say no don't have any event on that day

1:36:01 ↗ you know just give us a they gave me

1:36:04 ↗ fewer days to

1:36:05 ↗ to really look at for example even in

1:36:08 ↗ the buddhist calendar in talking to

1:36:10 ↗ three um communities of three staff

1:36:12 ↗ members that were buddhist

1:36:14 ↗ they talked about how they celebrated

1:36:17 ↗ and so it wasn't really

1:36:18 ↗ you know acknowledge you to have it in

1:36:20 ↗ the calendar but someone is with this

1:36:22 ↗ then be aware and so that's the monika's

1:36:25 ↗ second part where be aware rather than

1:36:27 ↗ this is a critical day off so i really

1:36:30 ↗ appreciate monica's

1:36:32 ↗ uh part of the calendar but this is

1:36:33 ↗ critical versus this is you know be

1:36:36 ↗ aware of people around you that it's not

1:36:39 ↗ as critical because we definitely heard

1:36:42 ↗ that that from many of our families that

1:36:44 ↗ there are certain days that were just

1:36:46 ↗ this is so important we realize that

1:36:48 ↗ it's many days but it's just really part

1:36:50 ↗ of who we are so we were really trying

1:36:52 ↗ to lean towards equity rather than

1:36:54 ↗ qualities for this

1:37:02 ↗ thank you lorna

1:37:05 ↗ remember is any other questions or

1:37:07 ↗ comments

1:37:13 ↗ i really really appreciate everyone's

1:37:14 ↗ support on this um and i know it's just

1:37:17 ↗ the beginning um it's really not the end

1:37:20 ↗ as you said it is something fluid and we

1:37:22 ↗ want to continue to engage with the

1:37:24 ↗ community

1:37:25 ↗ um so if i don't see other questions or

1:37:28 ↗ comments

1:37:29 ↗ um may i ask for perhaps a hand up if

1:37:33 ↗ you all feel comfortable that we could

1:37:36 ↗ start piloting this and perhaps sending

1:37:38 ↗ it to um our mayor for review or perhaps

1:37:42 ↗ if you're not so sure or if down

1:37:44 ↗ definitely meaning

1:37:46 ↗ no let's let's not send it yet

1:37:49 ↗ um

1:37:52 ↗ i see a lot of hands up

1:37:57 ↗ i don't see one from kelly lucresia or

1:38:01 ↗ don't see oh there you go

1:38:04 ↗ okay

1:38:05 ↗ and they see christina and lucrecia are

1:38:07 ↗ the only ones who are not so sure would

1:38:09 ↗ you like to tell us a little bit um

1:38:12 ↗ i would love to hear your thoughts on

1:38:13 ↗ that before we move forward

1:38:18 ↗ cristina or lucrezia who would like to

1:38:21 ↗ start

1:38:25 ↗ i've already spoken i think i'll let

1:38:28 ↗ cristina

1:38:44 ↗ basically i'm just not sure because i

1:38:46 ↗ don't know all of the cultures so i'm

1:38:48 ↗ kind of like just stuck here like this

1:38:50 ↗ neutral neutral

1:38:54 ↗ okay

1:39:11 ↗ come to a new country part of

1:39:14 ↗ uh

1:39:15 ↗ mainstreaming is is is making the

1:39:18 ↗ changes and adjusting to the local

1:39:20 ↗ culture

1:39:30 ↗ so

1:39:31 ↗ regarding that i just i feel like i'm in

1:39:33 ↗ neutral on it

1:39:35 ↗ i just respect all of them

1:39:43 ↗ thank you christina

1:39:45 ↗ from um

1:39:46 ↗ my experience as an immigrant i would

1:39:48 ↗ love to say that i can relate we were

1:39:51 ↗ always taught to

1:39:53 ↗ if you go to a different country

1:39:56 ↗ you need to go and learn

1:39:59 ↗ and and

1:40:00 ↗ absorb the other

1:40:03 ↗ and learn the other culture

1:40:06 ↗ and not expect others to do or so i can

1:40:08 ↗ relate to that however i do think that

1:40:11 ↗ it's also important for us to recognize

1:40:14 ↗ all the cultures and

1:40:16 ↗ um

1:40:18 ↗ um yeah to acknowledge them

1:40:20 ↗ so thank you

1:40:22 ↗ yeah i just want to clarify real quick

1:40:24 ↗ monica i want to make sure that people

1:40:26 ↗ hear what i'm trying to say i'm not

1:40:27 ↗ saying that i want i don't want to

1:40:29 ↗ recognize cultures or that we shouldn't

1:40:31 ↗ have the calendar

1:40:33 ↗ i think what i'm saying it i think there

1:40:35 ↗ are two separate calendars correct

1:40:37 ↗ there's the one that's going to be here

1:40:39 ↗ are

1:40:40 ↗ some dates that we should really not

1:40:42 ↗ hold meetings

1:40:43 ↗ and then they're here are the

1:40:45 ↗ the the ones that are more inclusive

1:40:48 ↗ that are more broadly representing each

1:40:50 ↗ culture

1:40:51 ↗ i think um what i'm trying to say i

1:40:54 ↗ think my comment is more towards the the

1:40:56 ↗ one where we're actually

1:40:58 ↗ cognizantly trying to not have meetings

1:41:01 ↗ that's where my comment is

1:41:04 ↗ is geared toward

1:41:06 ↗ i would like to in addition to what i

1:41:09 ↗ said earlier

1:41:10 ↗ is

1:41:11 ↗ basically

1:41:12 ↗ have a a clear understanding as to like

1:41:15 ↗ how are we making those decisions

1:41:17 ↗ because i think like um

1:41:19 ↗ with what i think it was lorna who said

1:41:23 ↗ um that some cultures require more and

1:41:25 ↗ others require less because of

1:41:28 ↗ when they're celebrated or how they're

1:41:30 ↗ celebrated

1:41:31 ↗ and i think i want to dissect that a

1:41:33 ↗ little bit more right because it can't

1:41:34 ↗ just be like

1:41:36 ↗ oh we're just going to have all of

1:41:38 ↗ because

1:41:39 ↗ at some point for me then it starts

1:41:41 ↗ to not even have value right if we just

1:41:43 ↗ have a whole bunch of things out there

1:41:46 ↗ then people just kind of become

1:41:47 ↗ desensitized as well with too much

1:41:49 ↗ information

1:41:50 ↗ but again

1:41:52 ↗ yeah i mean it's just

1:41:54 ↗ one

1:41:55 ↗ one voice is questioning this and i you

1:41:58 ↗ know i support what the majority is

1:42:01 ↗ doing

1:42:02 ↗ but i'm not 100 on board

1:42:09 ↗ thank you so much

1:42:11 ↗ your comments are so valued and we

1:42:13 ↗ really appreciate that um your

1:42:15 ↗ perspective is is really important so i

1:42:18 ↗ i definitely

1:42:19 ↗ like what you have to say and i think

1:42:21 ↗ there's a lot of value in what you're

1:42:22 ↗ saying

1:42:23 ↗ um

1:42:25 ↗ and i

1:42:26 ↗ to kind of move us along here i saw that

1:42:29 ↗ kelly had a question um and kelly if you

1:42:31 ↗ still have that question i want to make

1:42:33 ↗ sure that i give you the floor

1:42:34 ↗ um and of course i'm encouraging

1:42:36 ↗ everyone else to please if you do have a

1:42:38 ↗ question please go ahead and post in the

1:42:40 ↗ chat that you have a question to make

1:42:41 ↗ sure that we

1:42:42 ↗ uh call you and that i see you so that

1:42:44 ↗ we don't miss your question

1:42:52 ↗ oh kelly i'm sorry sweetie you're on i'm

1:42:54 ↗ sorry kelly you are on mute yeah

1:42:57 ↗ i turned it on mute

1:43:00 ↗ anyway i'll get you straight um

1:43:02 ↗ my mine's procedural my question it's

1:43:04 ↗ really easy

1:43:06 ↗ we're asking for thumbs up i'm an

1:43:08 ↗ alternate should i be doing it

1:43:12 ↗ yes

1:43:13 ↗ very important part of this group

1:43:16 ↗ so it's only on

1:43:18 ↗ votes towards a motion unless i'm

1:43:20 ↗ invited in

1:43:22 ↗ i do not vote correct

1:43:25 ↗ yes and we did not want to pose a vote

1:43:28 ↗ an official vote on this i think we were

1:43:30 ↗ just looking for you know um

1:43:33 ↗ input from

1:43:34 ↗ from the board i don't believe that an

1:43:36 ↗ official vote needs to happen um right

1:43:39 ↗ and so that's why i was just asking for

1:43:41 ↗ the thumbs up and so definitely your

1:43:42 ↗ input is very important just like any

1:43:44 ↗ other member so thank you for that

1:43:46 ↗ though thank you yes

1:43:49 ↗ um and um if you may remember at the

1:43:51 ↗ beginning of the meeting helen was able

1:43:53 ↗ to only join by phone but i'm so glad

1:43:55 ↗ that you're able to join my computer now

1:43:57 ↗ thank you and i got also your thumbs up

1:44:00 ↗ that you're not able to join so thank

1:44:02 ↗ you

1:44:03 ↗ let us know if you have other comments

1:44:04 ↗ or questions

1:44:08 ↗ monica i don't see anyone else so i

1:44:10 ↗ think we may be okay on this topic at

1:44:13 ↗ this point

1:44:14 ↗ um of course i'm sure we'll end up

1:44:16 ↗ coming back to it because we all have

1:44:19 ↗ questions as things change

1:44:21 ↗ um so we will uh

1:44:24 ↗ if it's okay with you i'd like for us to

1:44:26 ↗ move forward just in the interest of

1:44:27 ↗ time because i know we're getting short

1:44:29 ↗ on time

1:44:30 ↗ yes and i just want to mention to you

1:44:32 ↗ just a brief and 20 seconds brief next

1:44:35 ↗ steps um definitely we will bring this

1:44:37 ↗ back to the board as we are piloting it

1:44:39 ↗ i would like to just um send it to the

1:44:42 ↗ mayor um the mayor may choose to take it

1:44:45 ↗ as it is and turn it into an

1:44:47 ↗ administrative policy internal for the

1:44:50 ↗ city and start piloting it the mayor may

1:44:52 ↗ also choose to say you know what i'm

1:44:54 ↗ gonna send it back to you guys need to

1:44:56 ↗ do more work or i want to hear

1:44:58 ↗ additional input the mayor may also send

1:45:01 ↗ it uh to city council for a larger

1:45:04 ↗ policy discussion so um i will circle

1:45:07 ↗ back to the board to to see what we hear

1:45:09 ↗ from the mayor's office um and then

1:45:12 ↗ regardless we will definitely circle

1:45:14 ↗ back as we continue this work this is

1:45:15 ↗ just the beginning right so thank you so

1:45:17 ↗ much again for your input and valuable

1:45:20 ↗ feedback today and last week last month

1:45:22 ↗ was such a great great conversation

1:45:25 ↗ and with that i do recognize that we

1:45:27 ↗ have a few more minutes and two agenda

1:45:29 ↗ topics um with your permission

1:45:32 ↗ the next agenda topic i would like to

1:45:34 ↗ start

1:45:35 ↗ and have a brief conversation but

1:45:37 ↗ because tony had to leave early we would

1:45:39 ↗ love to continue this conversation uh

1:45:42 ↗ next month as well

1:45:44 ↗ so my two minute update i'm not gonna

1:45:47 ↗ even share the powerpoint anymore again

1:45:49 ↗ in the interest of a time

1:45:51 ↗ um as you may remember the last few

1:45:53 ↗ months

1:45:55 ↗ tony was the first one to bring an

1:45:57 ↗ equity conversation um and propose a

1:46:00 ↗ topic for the board to have um community

1:46:03 ↗ conversations around equity if you

1:46:06 ↗ remember the topic that he first brought

1:46:07 ↗ up was equity versus equality

1:46:10 ↗ and um

1:46:12 ↗ there seems to be um an interest and but

1:46:15 ↗ limited time into continuing uh

1:46:18 ↗ community conversations around equity

1:46:20 ↗ along the same line um there's also an

1:46:24 ↗ interest and there are all sorts of

1:46:26 ↗ cultural events happening throughout the

1:46:28 ↗ year

1:46:29 ↗ so as you might have seen an email from

1:46:30 ↗ me earlier uh we asked for volunteers to

1:46:33 ↗ help um

1:46:35 ↗ host um and

1:46:37 ↗ work on

1:46:38 ↗ an event for black history month

1:46:41 ↗ well we need to continue the

1:46:42 ↗ conversation on what the board would

1:46:44 ↗ like to do long term with engaging the

1:46:46 ↗ community and how you would like to go

1:46:49 ↗ about having either conversations that

1:46:52 ↗ um

1:46:53 ↗ advanced equity in the community

1:46:55 ↗ in the board or if you would like to

1:46:58 ↗ create a subcommittee that's going to

1:47:00 ↗ work on engaging with the community um

1:47:04 ↗ or also a subcommittee that's going to

1:47:06 ↗ work on organizing different events

1:47:08 ↗ um these are conversations that we would

1:47:11 ↗ love to have with you next month and

1:47:13 ↗ continue for the next couple of months

1:47:15 ↗ and see how you would like

1:47:16 ↗ uh to go

1:47:18 ↗ about this as a board

1:47:19 ↗ as an equity board as you know it's so

1:47:21 ↗ so important to stay engaged with the

1:47:23 ↗ community and i think that it warrants a

1:47:26 ↗ longer conversation and really

1:47:27 ↗ brainstorm about different options for

1:47:31 ↗ tonight though in particular i would

1:47:33 ↗ love

1:47:34 ↗ to get your support or thoughts on um

1:47:39 ↗ whether or not you feel comfortable

1:47:41 ↗ supporting and hosting a black history

1:47:44 ↗ month event that some of you a subgroup

1:47:46 ↗ of you

1:47:47 ↗ have been working on for the last week

1:47:50 ↗ um and i would like to name so shay tony

1:47:54 ↗ prithee

1:47:55 ↗ and um who am i missing and sophia and

1:47:58 ↗ am i missing something someone yes

1:48:00 ↗ alyssa um are part of a subcommittee sub

1:48:04 ↗ group uh that have been working on um

1:48:07 ↗ um

1:48:08 ↗ putting together black history month ray

1:48:10 ↗ also

1:48:11 ↗ offered his

1:48:12 ↗ time and we saw thank you but because we

1:48:15 ↗ did not wanna um break the open public

1:48:18 ↗ meeting act and um have a quorum

1:48:22 ↗ we are just keeping in touch with him at

1:48:24 ↗ this point

1:48:25 ↗ um

1:48:26 ↗ so the equity

1:48:28 ↗ equity the the sub group that's been

1:48:30 ↗ working decided to

1:48:32 ↗ host

1:48:33 ↗ two events on february 17.

1:48:36 ↗ one is a lunch and learn event

1:48:38 ↗ um

1:48:39 ↗ from noon to one where we would

1:48:43 ↗ invite community members and so have a

1:48:47 ↗ facilitated panel conversation

1:48:50 ↗ on the role and meaning of black history

1:48:52 ↗ month and the second event is in the

1:48:55 ↗ evening

1:48:56 ↗ and it's a kahoot trivia game from 6 30

1:48:59 ↗ to 7 30.

1:49:01 ↗ we can send you certainly information

1:49:04 ↗ that we are ready to promote i think the

1:49:06 ↗ question for you tonight is

1:49:08 ↗ could we interrupt what was the date of

1:49:10 ↗ the evening one

1:49:12 ↗ at the same february 17th at 6 30. thank

1:49:15 ↗ you

1:49:16 ↗ um

1:49:18 ↗ so do you feel comfortable as an equity

1:49:20 ↗ board to endorse these events and for us

1:49:24 ↗ to say that is the equity board hosting

1:49:26 ↗ them

1:49:27 ↗ or would you like this to just be an

1:49:29 ↗ event hosted by the city at large in

1:49:32 ↗ which case the board members who've been

1:49:35 ↗ participating in this they will just be

1:49:37 ↗ volunteers who are participating

1:49:40 ↗ so you have two options um

1:49:43 ↗ we just did not want to move forward and

1:49:46 ↗ just say the equity board is hosting

1:49:48 ↗ this event without asking you as a

1:49:50 ↗ larger board

1:49:52 ↗ so again we can i can take some

1:49:54 ↗ questions or if you feel comfortable

1:49:56 ↗ already saying yes i feel comfortable no

1:49:59 ↗ i don't or i don't know

1:50:01 ↗ you can do that

1:50:04 ↗ see megan's hand up to chris yeah

1:50:09 ↗ see

1:50:09 ↗ [Music]

1:50:12 ↗ you're nice i think jacob is the only

1:50:14 ↗ one that i don't see your hand up here

1:50:16 ↗ okay

1:50:18 ↗ okay

1:50:18 ↗ well i think that was easy then thank

1:50:20 ↗ you so much we will send you an email we

1:50:23 ↗ will start promoting the event on friday

1:50:25 ↗ but we will send out an email to all of

1:50:27 ↗ you um so you have a chance to to see

1:50:30 ↗ the description

1:50:31 ↗ um and then we will continue the next

1:50:33 ↗ month with like a larger long-term

1:50:35 ↗ conversation how would you like to go

1:50:37 ↗ about

1:50:38 ↗ um different events and community

1:50:41 ↗ engagement does that sound good

1:50:45 ↗ thank you

1:50:46 ↗ and then i realized that it's 802 i can

1:50:48 ↗ take one more minute i don't just for

1:50:52 ↗ staff report

1:50:54 ↗ um

1:50:55 ↗ and then we are done

1:50:58 ↗ yeah

1:50:59 ↗ okay

1:51:00 ↗ so with the staff report i just wanted

1:51:02 ↗ to circle back with you because last

1:51:04 ↗ month i mentioned to you that the draft

1:51:07 ↗ human services strategic plan i was

1:51:09 ↗ going to be presented to city council we

1:51:12 ↗ actually had one of the equity board

1:51:14 ↗ members

1:51:15 ↗ tony was at the meeting

1:51:17 ↗ and i just wanted to circle back and

1:51:19 ↗ follow up that um a second draft will go

1:51:23 ↗ after the human services commission next

1:51:26 ↗ week we'll go back to city council on

1:51:28 ↗ february 15th um so again if there's any

1:51:31 ↗ interest in that feel free to but don't

1:51:32 ↗ feel obligated um and i think that's

1:51:36 ↗ that's just my just small

1:51:38 ↗ report and follow-up

1:51:40 ↗ to you all

1:51:42 ↗ um

1:51:43 ↗ and that concludes i think the agenda

1:51:45 ↗ items for tonight

1:51:49 ↗ thank you so much monica for all that

1:51:51 ↗ great information

1:51:53 ↗ um

1:51:54 ↗ we we always have lots of work but we

1:51:57 ↗ are ending the night at 803

1:52:00 ↗ um so you guys will get two minutes back

1:52:03 ↗ so thank you for your time

1:52:05 ↗ um at this point in time we will go

1:52:08 ↗ ahead and adjourn the meeting unless

1:52:09 ↗ anyone else has a question or comment

1:52:11 ↗ and i'll give us a quick pause here

1:52:18 ↗ all right if nothing else then we will

1:52:21 ↗ adjourn thank you everyone for joining

1:52:24 ↗ us

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