Human Rights Commission Community Engagement Committee October 14, 2021 Virtual/Electronic Meeting 7:00pm Agenda Packet Attachments 1. Community Engagement Committee Meeting Agenda 2. 09-02-2021 DRAFT HRC Community Engagement Committee Meeting Minutes 3. HRC plain language documents 4. Draft resolution A21-1 5. HRC Statement Template Attachment 1 Human Rights Commission AGENDA Community Engagement Committee October 14, 2021 Virtual/Electronic Meeting 7:00pm 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. 09-02-2021 Community Engagement Committee Meeting Minutes* 4. WORK SESSION a. Review of plain language document work and next steps b. Next steps with A21-1 c. Next steps with HRC public statement protocol d. Next steps regarding Committee’s proposed engagement plan e. 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 Community Engagement Committee Meeting September 2, 2021 Virtual/Electronic Meeting 2:30 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 not present. Andrew Orban called the meeting to order at 2:34 pm b. ROLL CALL i. Andrew Orban ii. Lyndele Von Schill 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. Review draft template for public statements i. Jeanette has put together a draft ii. OHR staff says one issue with draft is that it sounds like draft approvals will be voted upon through email, which is not allowed 1. Perhaps Chair could be spokesperson iii. Commissioner asks about what the time frame should be, especially in cases when a fast turnaround is necessary 1. OHR staff says Commissioners in the past have expressed comfort with the Chair acting as the voice of the Commission by taking action and making statements, so long as the rest of the Commission stays in the know 2. Ideally, everyone would give a review and approval in a meeting, but the Chair would act on behalf of the Commission if timing did not work out iv. Points of resolution are to give Chair agency and give Commissioners a chance to review 1. Commissioner says that adding in a bit about time frame, like 48 hours, would add clarity 2. Another Commissioner says that including the timeframe piece and approval piece begins to fall into the “vote” category again v. Commissioner says that rather than prescribing it, the timeframe piece could be added in the "Purpose” or “Aims” to acknowledge that the Commission is trying to be timely in their statements 1. This justifies why the Commission is relying on the Chair a. Could say that as a Commission, the Chair will do their best to give information with 24-hour notice, but this is not a requirement vi. OHR staff says the draft is for statements, not a protocol; a protocol is more like a resolution 1. The “why” piece is more for a resolution 2. Saying “we are doing this as per Resolution ___” outlines the timeframes and protocols b. Relation to draft template to Resolution A21-1 i. The “Proposed Template for Commission Statements” (Attachment 1) is more of a justification for the template, while “Statement of the Charlottesville HRC On [Indicate Issue of Importance HERE]” (Attachment 2) is the template itself 1. Attachment 1 is more like a resolution 2. OHR staff suggests editing Attachment 1 to read more like a resolution so that the resolution, Attachment 3, can reference back to it 3. Right now we are trying to draft a resolution not for how the committee wants to do outreach, but how the Chair wants to ii. First “preamble” in the template is therefore unneeded iii. Commissioner asks if using this kind of language in Resolution A21-1 is necessary, as it is largely difficult to follow and comprehend for the general public 1. OHR staff says this is generally the protocol for resolutions, but writing a companion document explaining what the resolution and template say could be an option 2. Lyndele strongly recommends providing this plain language version of Resolution A21-1 and adapt it as needed 3. She can draft this for everyone to later work on iv. OHR staff recommends taking some parts of the first document (specifically “Purpose” through “Support”) and merging them in with the resolution v. Should include that there is a plain language document in the resolution document 1. OHR staff says the Commission could pass a resolution saying all HRC documents will have a companion plain language document vi. Andy says he can look at the template justification document and the resolution side-by-side to see what can be merged into the resolution 1. Lyndele can start the plain language document now as well because Andy does not expect the resolution to change very much vii. After looking over Resolution A21-1, the committee agrees that no changes need to be made 1. OHR staff recommends sending it to Allyson for a lookover, but other than that, it is ready to be presented at the next Commission and for Mary to sign off on it c. New business i. OHR staff asks about Ashley’s request for addressing the five-year remembrance of the events of August 2017—this could be a good thing for this committee to work on 1. Lyndele has not yet heard of this 2. OHR staff will talk to Mary and Ashley and make sure the information gets to the full Commission so that they can give feedback 3. In the request, there was also a question of how to recognize other days and months celebrating protecting groups in a non- tokening, meaningful way ii. Disability PSA Project 1. Progress has stalled since COVID 2. OHR staff asks if this is something this committee would like to take on 3. Idea is to create a scripted video series of recorded public messages talking about who they are, how they identify, and what they want the public to know about their disability 4. Idea of collaborating with Communications to create well- produced videos to broadcast on television 5. There were volunteers, Phoebe and Melvin were talking to people at the IRC, and Todd is in contact with Jim Herndon, so the project is still possible; it would just take commitment 6. Commissioner asks if this project is tied into city services or if it is just informational a. OHR staff says it is a way to give those with a disability a voice in the Charlottesville community-- visibility b. Commissioner says there is a good opportunity here to tie in things the City is doing, offering some way the City is meaningfully listening to this group 7. If interested, this committee should talk to Wolfgang to coordinate the project 6. MATTERS BY THE PUBLIC a. PUBLIC COMMENT i. None b. COMMISSION RESPONSE TO MATTERS BY THE PUBLIC i. None 7. COMMISSIONER UPDATES a. None 8. NEXT STEPS a. General Next Steps i. Send Resolution A21-1 draft to Allyson for review and present at next HRC meeting ii. Begin drafting resolution saying HRC will provide plain-language companions for all documents iii. Talk to Wolfgang about Disability PSA Project b. Lyndele i. Draft a plain-language companion document to Resolution A21-1 c. Todd i. Get full Commission information about Ashley’s five-year August 2017 remembrance question 9. ADJOURN a. Meeting adjourned at 3:01 pm Attachment 3 CHARLOTTESVILLE HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION ADVOCACY AND ACTION RESOLUTION #: A21-1 Commented [LvS1]: Link to “official” resolution PLAIN LANGUAGE VERSION The Charlottesville Human Rights Ordinance says that the Charlottesville Human Rights Commission will: • support justice and equal opportunity by guiding the City on civil rights issues • work with the public and organizations to prevent and stop discrimination • review the City’s policies and practices and advise the City on human rights issues • make recommendations to City Council about policies and procedures that support justice and equal opportunity • look for policies and practices that may not be illegal, but that negatively affect people because of their protected identities Commented [LvS2]: Provide link to this list? We commit to being a strong advocate for human and civil rights. Sometimes, a human or civil rights issue will require quick action between regular Commission meetings. When this happens, we give the Commission Chair permission to act on our behalf. Examples of action include: • writing and delivering letters to government officials, to organizations, and to the media • adding the Human Rights Commission to online petitions and sign-on letters • writing and publishing Public Service Announcements • participating in public events like protests, counterprotests, rallies, marches, and government meetings • managing our social media accounts We will use plain language because human rights work should be easy to understand. ___________________________________________ ___________ Mary Bauer, Chair, Human Rights Commission Date The Commission is guided by the Charlottesville Human Rights Ordinance: City code Article XV. Sec. 2-433. Attachment 4 RESOLUTION TO ESTABLISH PROCEDURES FOR ADVOCACY AND ACTION CHARLOTTESVILLE HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION RESOLUTION #: A21-1 WHEREAS, the Charlottesville Human Rights Ordinance, hereinafter “the Ordinance,” states that 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 code Article XV. Sec. 2-433.); and WHEREAS, the Ordinance states that the Commission will collaborate with the public and private sectors for the purpose of providing awareness, education and guidance on methods to prevent and eliminate discrimination citywide (City code Article XV. Sec. 2-433.b); and WHEREAS, the Ordinance states that the Commission will identify and review policies and practices of the City of Charlottesville and its boards and commissions and other public agencies within the City and advise those bodies on issues related to human rights issues City code Article XV. Sec. 2- 433.c); and WHEREAS, the Ordinance states that the Commission will prepare recommendations to City Council as to policies and procedures the Commission believes are necessary for the performance of the roles, duties and responsibilities assigned to the Commission within this article, and for modifications of operating procedures approved by City Council (City code Article XV. Sec. 2-433.f); and WHEREAS, the Ordinance states that the Commission will be responsible for identifying and reviewing policies, practices and systems of an institutional nature that may not constitute unlawful discriminatory practices but nevertheless which produce disparities that adversely impact or affect individuals on the basis of a status such as their race, color, religion, sex, pregnancy, childbirth or related medical conditions, national origin, age, marital status, criminal record, income or disability (City code Article XV. Sec. 2-435.a.2); therefore BE IT RESOLVED that the Commission hereby declares its intent to take specific action as a strong advocate for human and civil rights; and BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Commission will undertake specific advocacy action following a majority vote of approval during a publicly-noticed regular meeting of the Commission, except in limited situations between regular meetings of the Commission, when a human or civil rights issue requires prompt action that must occur before the Commission can convene in a publicly noticed meeting, in which case the Commission authorizes the Commission Chair to take advocacy action, on behalf of the whole Commission, without a prior majority vote of approval during a publicly-noticed regular meeting; and BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that specific advocacy action, proclaiming the Commission’s position on an issue related to human and/or civil rights, may include one or more of the following: 1. Writing and delivering letters to a. City Council b. The City Manager c. Non-profit organizations or other community groups d. State government officials e. Federal government officials f. Local media outlets 2. Adding the Human Rights Commission to online petitions 3. Adding the Human Rights Commission to sign-on letters 4. Creating and publishing Public Service Announcements 5. Attendance and participation in public events including but not limited to a. Protests b. Counterprotests c. Rallies d. Marches e. City Council meetings 6. Managing Human Rights Commission social media accounts Dated this ___________ of ________________, 2021. ___________________________________________ Mary Bauer, Chair, Human Rights Commission Attachment 5 Charlottesville Human Rights Commission Community Engagement Committee Proposed Template for Commission Statements DRAFT_August 5, 2021 Purpose: The Charlottesville Human Rights Commission (HRC) Subcommittee on Community Engagement would like to have a consistent way of amplifying critical issues in our community in a way that aligns with our values and vision. Use: The proposed template will be used by the HRC to provide public statements to Council and the general public regarding emergent issues and will be kept on record on the HRC website page. Aims: The development of statements from HRC gives the commission a way to speak on critical issues as they emerge and provide leadership and strategic direction recommendations to City Council and the public. We aim to have the language and format of the statement be accessible to all. Protocol: Commissioners bring issues of importance to our committee meetings for discussion. The commission will outline key points, value statements, and recommendations to include. An individual commissioner (or sub-set of commissioners) will draft a statement using this template and submit it by email for approval by the whole commission. When approved by a majority of commissioners through email, the finalized statement will be presented to council during public comment, either by the HRC Chair, Vice Chair, Subcommittee Chair or assigned commissioner. Support: Commissioners will opt in to sign on to the statement. If a commissioner is unavailable or does not desire to sign on to the statement they can choose to abstain. Record: Statements will be kept in a central location on the HRC website page. Format: The format is designed to be ADA accessible Statement of the Charlottesville Human Rights Commission On [Indicate Issue of Importance HERE] [DATE] Submitted by the following Human Rights Commissioners: [Include list of Commissioners that have signed on to the statement, one on each line] Mary Bauer (Chair) Kathryn Laughon (Vice Chair) Jeanette Abi-Nader Ernest Chambers Jessica Harris Wolfgang Keppley Susan W. Lewis Tobiah Mundt Andrew Orban Alex Oxford Lyndele von Schill The role of the Charlottesville Human Rights Commission, as stated in Ordinance #O-21-021 is to act as a strong advocate for justice and equal opportunity by providing citywide leadership and guidance in the area of civil rights. In alignment of this mission, the Charlottesville Human Rights Commission stands in….[indicate core issue that we are supporting or decrying]. [THE CONTEXT: Provide supporting contextual information that includes key points such as: • Historical references to the situation being addressed, highlighting any systemic inequities that are contributing factors; • The values of the Commission that support our perspective; • Information on how this issue ties to our overall city strategic values, goals, and priorities as well as specifics on the implications for upholding human rights] [THE DATA: Provide supporting data that includes key points such as: • Concise and key data that provides insight into the systemic or specific nature of the issue at the local level; • Concise and key data that provides insight into the systemic or specific nature of the issue at the regional and/or federal level; • Concise and key data that provides insight into the recommendations proposed.] [THE RECOMMENDATIONS: Provide recommendations for action to include key points such as: • Recommended actions we would like to see City representatives (Council, City Manager, City Staff) take; • Budget implications if there are any; • Community action steps that can be taken in support of this effort; • Any action that the HRC will be taking.] [WORKS CITED-include references to the works cited throughout our statement]