Agenda - 06-18-2013 - 5a - Laserfiche WebLink

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9 1 Commissioner Gordon thanked Donald Bryan and the other members for being part of 2 this board. 3 Steve Brantley said there is a Planning and Inspections Advisory Board position to fill, 4 and that will add to the coordination. 5 6 • Human Relations Commission (HRC) - Colin Austin, Chair (with Housing, Human 7 Relations and Community Development Director Tara Fikes) 8 9 Tara Fikes introduced Colin Austin, HRC Chair. 10 Colin Austin said the HRC report was submitted late last year and he would be giving 11 updates. He said the past few months there has been a lot of transition, as James Spivey, who 12 was an instrumental staff person, retired. He recognized Tara Fikes for taking over the reins 13 during the transition. He also noted that a lot of the veteran members rotated off the board. He 14 said the focus is on recruiting new members that reflect the diversity of the county. 15 He said the report lists many activities from last year, and there have been several 16 events so far in 2013, such as Human Relations Month and the Pauli Murray Awards. He said 17 there have been many events around the community celebrating the 150th anniversary of the 18 emancipation proclamation. He said this was an excellent way to engage school age children. 19 He said there continues to be work, through a subcommittee, on building integrated 20 communities and engaging immigrant communities in the county. He said that this is played out 21 through engaging organizations that work with immigrants. He said the goal is to recruit 22 additional members from the immigrant community to the Human Relations Commission. 23 He said the board has been engaged in some tenants' rights issues and in helping low 24 income renters understand their rights. This was done in partnership with law students and 25 Justice United. He said the board has a low profile role and hopes to facilitate issues being 26 brought forward to the attention of the Board. 27 He discussed a new subcommittee on the collateral consequences of having a criminal 28 record. He noted the work being done to educate employers and to educate citizens on how to 29 re-establish themselves. 30 He encouraged the Board to continue to use the 5 established social justice goals. 31 Chair Jacobs noted that there are three new commissioners that are not familiar with the 32 social justice goals and he asked Tara Fikes to coordinate a session to educate them on these 33 goals. 34 Commissioner Gordon asked about the women's issues being pursued by the HRC, and 35 who on the Commission was interested in those issues. 36 Colin Austin said when the Commission for Women was disbanded, HRC took on that 37 cause. One of the commission's members came onto HRC, so there is one woman on the 38 HRC interested in women's issues. 39 Commissioner Gordon asked if there are any specific issues or if this is a general goal. 40 Colin Austin said this is only a general goal. 41 Commissioner Gordon suggested that HRC keep women's issues in mind when 42 selecting future applicants. 43 Commissioner Pelissier said she was heartened that the HRC wanted to work on the 44 "ban the box" issue. She said she is part of the Partnership for Homelessness and she 45 encouraged HRC to get in touch with Hank Elkins, who is heading up this process. She said it 46 is important to discuss this and come up with more momentum. 47 48 3. Discussion of the Steps to Redesign the County Web Site 49