Human Rights Commission Accessibility Committee Meeting October 14, 2021 Virtual/Electronic Meeting 6:30pm Agenda Packet Attachments 1. Accessibility Committee Agenda 2. 09-09-2021 Draft Accessibility Committee Meeting Minutes 3. HRC approved draft Resolution HR21-1 Attachment 1 Human Rights Commission AGENDA Accessibility Committee Meeting October 14, 2021 Virtual/Electronic Meeting 6:30pm Please take Notice that this virtual meeting of the Human Rights Commission is for the purposes of planning, developing and drafting management and administration documents for the Human Rights Commission. For the purpose of addressing issues during the quarantine, this virtual meeting will be a limited public forum to discuss the agenda items designated under Section 5 below and to ensure the continuity of services provided by the Commission. The Commission Chair may limit public comments or discussion points that are unrelated to agenda items under Section 5 or that pertain to topics outside the scope of this Agenda. Members of the public are limited to three minutes of comment time per person related to the Agenda below. A maximum of sixteen public comment time slots are allotted per meeting. This will be a virtual/electronic meeting open to the public and registration information is available at www.charlottesville.gov/zoom. Link to Human Rights Commission shared Box folder: https://app.box.com/s/xty3wnn2s1tj8h7trkknvd79bipyxezy 1. WELCOME a. CALL TO ORDER b. ROLL CALL c. MISSION (recited by all): Act as a strong advocate to justice and equal opportunity by providing citywide leadership and guidance in the area of civil rights. 2. MATTERS BY THE PUBLIC a. PUBLIC COMMENT (Webinar attendees use the “raise hand” function, phone attendees use *9) b. COMMISSION RESPONSE TO MATTERS BY THE PUBLIC 3. MINUTES a. 09-09-2021 Accessibility Committee Meeting Minutes* 4. WORK SESSION a. Next steps for resolution HR21-1: Language Access Plan b. Next steps for disability PSA project c. New business 5. MATTERS BY THE PUBLIC a. PUBLIC COMMENT (Webinar attendees use the “raise hand” function, phone attendees use *9) b. COMMISSION RESPONSE TO MATTERS BY THE PUBLIC 6. NEXT STEPS & ADJOURN * ACTION NEEDED Individuals with disabilities who require assistance or special arrangements to participate in the public meeting may call the ADA Coordinator at (434) 970-3182 or submit a request via email to ada@charlottesville.gov. The City of Charlottesville requests that you provide a 48 hour notice so that proper arrangements may be made. Attachment 2 Human Rights Commission Meeting Minutes Accessibility Committee Meeting September 9, 2021 Virtual/Electronic Meeting 6:30 pm Public link to meeting rebroadcasts on Boxcast: https://boxcast.tv/channel/vabajtzezuyv3iclkx1a Public link to HRC documents on Box: https://app.box.com/s/xty3wnn2s1tj8h7trkknvd79bipyxezy 1. WELCOME a. CALL TO ORDER i. Chair, Wolfgang Keppley, called the meeting to order at 6:39 pm b. ROLL CALL i. Wolfgang Keppley ii. Sue Lewis (arrived at 6:42 pm) c. MISSION (recited by all): Act as a strong advocate to justice and equal opportunity by providing citywide leadership and guidance in the area of civil rights. 2. MATTERS BY THE PUBLIC a. PUBLIC COMMENT i. None b. COMMISSION RESPONSE TO MATTERS BY THE PUBLIC i. None 3. MINUTES a. None 4. BUSINESS MATTERS a. None 5. WORK SESSION a. Language Access Plan Resolution discussion i. Chair thinks Charlottesville should develop and implement a draft for a language plan 1. Would allow engagement with local government and increase advocacy opportunities 2. Would also share City’s commitment to effectively communicate with all members of the public, serve as a citywide policy [audio breaks up], uphold commitment to provide meaningful access for individuals who speak a primary language other than English 3. Would also support legal requirements [audio breaks up] 4. Durham voluntarily undertook a language access plan for their city to extend beyond legal requirement ii. Chair intends to, as a subcommittee of the HRC, draft a proposal to City Council that they should implement a language access plan 1. Durham’s model seems promising—they have some materials online that show their initial resolution up to implementing a full plan iii. Commissioner asks if there is anyone in the ADA Coordinator office yet 1. OHR staff says no 2. There is someone temporarily there, but it has not been announced whom that is yet iv. OHR staff says the role of the committee would be to draft a resolution for the rest of the Commission to look at 1. Then, planning to present the proposal to Council can be done 2. OHR staff can provide a template if needed a. Standard resolution template exists and is fairly straightforward b. There will be plain-language companion documents to go with all the resolutions v. The resolution drafting with the rest of the Commission is necessary in this process 1. Wolfgang can draft a proposal for review at the next Commission meeting a. Todd will send a Word version of a resolution to Wolfgang for reference on the draft vi. Sue can meet Tuesday afternoon at 6pm to take a look at the draft and make edits together b. Disability PSA project i. Todd will send out current information about it 6. MATTERS BY THE PUBLIC a. PUBLIC COMMENT i. None b. COMMISSION RESPONSE TO MATTERS BY THE PUBLIC i. None 7. COMMISSIONER UPDATES 8. NEXT STEPS a. General Next Steps i. Wolfgang and Sue will meet Tuesday 9/14 at 6pm to go over resolution draft b. Wolfgang i. Draft proposal for review with Sue, then review with full Commission c. Todd i. Send a Word version of a resolution to Wolfgang for reference on the draft ii. Send committee members information about the Disability PSA project 9. ADJOURN a. Meeting adjourned at 6:52 pm Attachment 3 Resolution to Establish a Citywide Language Access Plan Proposal CHARLOTTESVILLE HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION RESOLUTION #: HR21-1 WHEREAS, the role of the Charlottesville Human Rights Commission, hereinafter “the Commission,” is to act as a strong advocate for justice and equal opportunity by providing citywide leadership and guidance in the area of civil rights (City cCode Article XV. Sec. 2-433.); and WHEREAS, the Charlottesville Human Rights Ordinance identifies age, disability, marital status, national origin, pregnancy/childbirth, race/skin color, religion, and sex and protected classes (City Ccode Article XV. Sec 2-431a.); and WHEREAS, the Charlottesville City Council’s “Welcoming City resolutionProclamation” states that advancing equity and inclusion is critical to the success of our community and our nation, that we must strongly reaffirm our commitment to diversity and to fostering an atmosphere of inclusion, and that we believe the public sector has a critical role in ensuring the public good and pledge to continue our working in making our services and programs accessible to all (“Welcoming City” Proclamation on October 5, 20151); and Commented [A1]: Not sure you need footnotes in your Resolution. Consider deleting. WHEREAS, the “Welcoming City Update Resolution” on April 17, 2017, tasked the Office of Human Rights to work with appropriate partners in our government and our community to ensure vulnerable populations have access to information about their rights and underlying resources (Welcoming City Update Resolution on April 17, 20172); and WHEREAS, an estimated 15.7% of Charlottesville’s population speaks a language other than English at home (Characteristics of People by Language Spoken at Home, ACS 5-year estimates3); and WHEREAS, a City Language Access Plan will enable Limited English Proficient (LEP) individuals within Charlottesville to more efficiently engage with local government services, show the City’s commitment to effectively communicate with all members of the public, serve as a citywide policy on how staff will meet the commitment to providing “meaningful access” to individuals who speak a primary language other than English, and further support Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 19644 legal requirements for any program or activity receiving federal financial assistance; and WHEREAS, the City of Charlottesville is committed to providing electronic communication that is accessible to the widest possible audience, regardless of technology or ability (Website Accessibility Statement5); and WHEREAS, while some City departments6 have Language Access Plans, but as of yet there is no citywide policy guiding the City to ensure access to City resources and services for LEP residents; BE IT RESOLVED that the Commission hereby recommends that the City of Charlottesville develop and implement a city-wide Language Access Plan, above and beyond legal requirement, as well as an action- oriented implementation plan to guide the City to establish policies and procedures to ensure access to City resources and services for LEP residents and to support the right of all residents to communicate with the City in the language of in which they preference. Dated this ___________ of ________________, 2021. ___________________________________________ XX XX, Chair, Human Rights Commission