Rehelio Samuel, Paul Winn

 

Guests Present:

Meeting

Deb Taylor called the meeting to order at 7:36 p.m. at the Human Relations Department, 947 New Hampshire. She welcomed our guest--Alexander Tsatsoulis--to the meeting. 

 

Minutes of the May 10, 2006 meeting were read. Barbara made and Sarah T seconded a motion to accept the minutes of the May 10 meeting. The minutes were approved on a voice vote.

 

Deb reported that she and Sara T walked in the St John's Mexican Fiesta Parade on June 10. Sara made very nice posters for them to carry. She is willing to make permanent posters (laminated) that can be used in future marches. 

 

Deb reported her meeting with Captain David Cobb of the Lawrence Police Department with respect to Cultural Awareness Training for the LPD officers. She prepared an info sheet to give to groups who are interested in giving presentations, which she plans to share with David Cobb to make sure we share the same goals. The board reviewed the info sheet and made suggestions. The revised sheet can be found at: http://www.lawrencealliance.org/LPDDiversityTraining.html. Deb mentioned that Kim Kreicker of NetworQ (www.kansasnetworq.org) has volunteered to give a presentation in December on gay and lesbian culture in Lawrence.

 

The board discussed which groups should give presentations as well as how much time should be allotted to them. The Police Department requires training in one-hour blocks so the board decided to give various groups the option to give either a half-hour or one-hour presentation. We would schedule two half-hour groups during the same training time. The goal is to get as many groups prepared as possible so that the Police Dept officers can be exposed to a variety of cultures in Lawrence.

 

The board identified and agreed to contact the following groups (in addition to the gay and lesbian group) as those who should give the first presentations (other groups will be contacted in the future):

 

Hispanic: Sarah T agreed to contact Lydia Leon

Islamic: Deb agreed to contact Moussa Elbayoumy

Native American: Deb will ask Lori T to make these connections

African American: Deb agreed to contact Sonya Johnson, Pres of NAACP

Disabilities: Anne agreed to contact Independence Inc

Homeless: Sarah T agreed to contact people who can develop a presentation

Asian: Deb agreed to contact Father Joseph Dang, Asian Community Center President, about possible Asian presenters

 

The board agreed that one member would attend each training session in order to establish a presence and to facilitate/mediate if necessary.

 

The board discussed ways to capitalize on and further utilize the presentations. The goal is to expose more people in Lawrence to the various diverse cultures. Suggestions included the following:

• Asking presenters to speak at other venues such as the Fire Department, City of Lawrence, organizations/clubs in Lawrence, etc.

• Asking each group to give a 10- or 15-minute presentation that would be taped and then aired on the Lawrence community channel (ch 6).

The board agreed to allow Alexander Tsatsoulis the opportunity to work with the Alliance as an intern this summer. Alex, who is working on his Masters of Public Policy at the Harris School for Public Policy Studies at the University of Chicago, has both academic and volunteer experience with nonprofit groups. Alex agreed to contact Channel 6 to find out what the board needs to do in order to give presentations at the station. He will also explore the logistics of holding Town Meetings in Lawrence.

 

Hilda agreed to contact two social workers who gave a recent presentation in Lawrence on children's issues in Lawrence schools. She would like to invite them to a future board meeting and explore the possibility of developing a Town Meeting based on their presentation.

 

Anne agreed to talk to KU faculty in her department about having international students give a 10- or 15-minute presentation that could be aired on the Lawrence community channel (provided that this idea becomes a reality) or for another forum.

 

Barbara agreed to contact the coordinator of the Lawrence High School Heritage program to see if she will attend a future board meeting. The board discussed the possibility of having student participants in the Heritage program give a 10/15 minute presentation for Channel 6.

 

Sarah T mentioned a new Service Learning class at KU which includes volunteers who help with service needs. She agreed to find out more about this group to see if they could help us with future events.

 

Deb read notes that Lori T passed on since she could not attend the July 12 meeting:

• She will work with Haskell to provide a Cultural Awareness program for the Lawrence PD.

• She and Sara T plan to meet soon to develop and send out a survey that asks Haskell students to identify the top 5 forms of discrimination they face in Lawrence.

• She would like to give Alex a tour of HINU (other board members mentioned that they would like to take this tour as well!).

• She would like the board to revisit the idea of sponsoring a Festival of Cultures type of gathering for the Lawrence community.

A board member asked about the status of the City's creating a Police Review Board. Rehelio agreed to contact the City Manager for an update.

 

Deb agreed to add a hit counter to the Lawrence Alliance Web site so we can track visitors to the site.

 

Adjournment

Barbara made and Bruce seconded a motion to adjourn the meeting at approximately 8:59 p.m. The motion was approved on a voice vote.

 

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