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 Human Rights Commission

Red Maple Room
April 27, 2011

 MINUTES

Members Present: 
Vice Chair, Jeff Billington
Theo Anderson
Daron Bolat                                   
David Smith
Maria Carvalho

Members Absent:
Chair, Debbie Dwyer
Josh Richards
Natalia Fominykh
Joy Murorunkwere

Guests Present:
John Carter
Andreas Vassilas

Staff Present:
Janet Kelly, Staff Liaison to the Commission                     

I. Convene
Meeting was convened by Jeff Billington.

II.    Approval of Minutes:    
        Minutes for March had to wait for approval due to a lack of quorum.

III.   Chair Report:
                                   
       A) Welcome Visitors
             Chair welcomed visitor John Carter and former HRC member Andreas Vassilas.

       B)  NAACP Freedom Fund Dinner
            The NAACP Freedom Fund dinner will this upcoming Sunday. Staff reminded  
            Commissioners about the dinner and got a count of those who would attend.

IV.     Staff Report:       

A)    Upcoming Forum (Staff, Commissioner Smith and Commissioner Bolat)
Discussion about the forum took place particularly around location. It was decided that we would have the forum at the Annex Building across from the  Twinbrook Center and May 12 was the date ultimately chosen for the forum.

B)    Diversity Leadership Project
The Unity and Diversity Group will be working on an upcoming project to visit Earle B. Wood Middle School. They will take the tape that was developed for the MLK program. They will focus on the feeder schools. Principal at Wood Middle School has agreed to the project being done at her school. Staff is working out the details regarding the exact date that the presentation can be made with the principal.

C)     Multimedia Contest                                                   
The schools have an extended deadline of May 23 for the contest. The teachers and contacts at the three high schools have been told of the extension.

D)    Divestment
Staff told Commission that she placed a call to the representative from the County and awaits their call regarding any updates in the divestment process.

V.  Open Forum
A)  MLK Future
It was suggested by former Commissioner Vassilas to provide even more advertisement to the employees of the City so that they will be reminded to attend the event.
           
B) Assisting Students/Youth with Special Needs
Another suggestion was to look at the activities that are done through the City of Rockville and the schools to see how they integrate children with special needs and see what the HRC’s role might be to enhance, create resources or find out resources are so that they might refer people that may not know about the services to those services that may assist their child. Staff will work to provide information about various programs and will also see if representatives from various agencies can attend the meetings so that they can become aware of services that exist in the area and create connections with these resources.

VI.    Old Business:
There was no old business.                                           

VII.   New Business:
There was no new business.

VIII.  Adjournment:
The meeting adjourned at 9:35 p.m. The next meeting will be at City Hall 7:30 p.m. on May 23.