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Human Rights Commission
Black-Eyed Susan Room
June 22, 2011
MINUTES
Members in Attendance:
Jeff Billington, Chair
Daron Bolat
Debbie Dwyer
Natalia Fominykh
Joy Murorunkwere
Josh Richards
David Smith
Members not in Attendance:
Theo Anderson
Maria Carvalho
Staff Present:
Janet Kelly, Staff Liaison
Guests:
John Carter
Dominique Perez
I. Convene
The meeting was convened at 7:40 p.m.
II. Welcome Visitors
Visitors were welcomed and a presentation was made to a Commissioner celebrating her success.
III. Approval of Minutes
Minutes were approved.
IV. Chair Report:
A. Hometown Holidays Update
Discussion regarding Hometown Holidays took place. All that participated agreed that it was enjoyable and that the Wheel of Chance still proved to be very popular.
There was a suggestion to continue to make the question with degrees of challenge so that there could be even more participants.
B. Attendance at HRC Meetings
Discussion regarding consistency of attendance and duration of stay at meetings took place. Chair stated that there it was important to make sure that at the meetings all stay until the end for voting purposes. Coming to the meetings is representative of the commitment that everyone that applies agrees to.
C. Selection and Discussion of Multimedia Entries
The Commission selected the multimedia entries. The winners will be sent their prizes and will be recognized at the MLK ceremony. The Commission members said that they would like to go to the schools to publicize the contest. Staff liaison will see what might the best avenue to do that by contacting the schools once the reopen. As a way to further advertise the Multimedia contest, there was a suggestion to purchase a plaque that would have the names of the past winners. Staff will ask to see how that might work and where the plaques would be placed.
V. Staff Report:
A. Voter Registration and Dates & Teen Participation
In order to gain more voter registration participation from residents that may not be likely to register, there was discussion on what to do. The Commission thought that were some dates that could be considered for registrations. They were September 10th, 17th and 24th. Additionally, in thinking outside of the box, there were thoughts of registrations at high schools or colleges to involve teens. There is also a City of Rockville teen group that staff will attempt to engage to assist in the process. Staff will also look at the Asian churches and schools to assist. Commissioner Fominykh will also look into a book club that has Russian-speaking residents for voter registration possibilities.
B. Collaborative Presentation to Senior Residents
The presentation for the 21st of July is set. There will be conversation around diversity appreciation and the HRC will talk about their service and program.
C. Presentation at Wood Middle School
Staff and Commission will be working on trying to get buy – in regarding the presentations to the 8th graders.
D. Intern for HRC
Staff told omission that there will be a high school intern that will be assisting with the future activities such as voter registration, MLK program and Multimedia contest. She will start in September and staff will begin to look at ways to schedule the intern to be a part of the overall goals of the year.
VI. Open Forum
There were no Open Forum items.
VII. Old Business
There was some discussion about forums. The possible future topics for forums were as follows:
VIII. New Business
There were no New Business items.
IX. Adjournment
Meeting adjourned at 9:30 p.m. The next meeting will be at City Hall in the Black-Eyed Susan Room at 7:30 p.m. on July 27.