HomeMy WebLinkAbout~Master - April 8, 2020, AHRC MinutesMinutes
AMES HUMAN RELATIONS COMMISSION
**Special Meeting**
Conference Call
1-720-279-0026
Passcode: 190045
Wednesday, April 8, 2020
Call to Order: The meeting was called to order at 5:40pm by and opened the meeting
with the following statement:
“This meeting is being held electronically because of the COVID-19 pandemic, and
the Governor of Iowa’s Public Health Disaster Emergency Declaration
which included limits on public gatherings; therefore, it is impractical
to hold an in-person meeting.”
Members Present: Liming Pals, Jill Crosser, and Jahmai Fisher
Member(s) Absent: Wayne Clinton and Madesh Samanu
Guests: Joel Hochstein
Staff Liaison: Deb Schildroth
Public Forum: None
Appointing a New Chair:
Liming moved Jill as chair and Jill seconded Motion carried unanimously.
New Commission Member:
Jahmai introduced herself and her interest in serving on the AHRC.
Continue Review of Survey Responses:
There was acknowledgement about the difficulties in collecting data. The responses
highlight what we already know regarding bias.
A continued focus area is race in the community and looking at which racial equity tools
could be used to find ways to regularly collect data.
It was suggested to share survey comments with the various City departments referred
to.
Liming expressed interest in still looking at ways to gather feedback from focus groups
at some point in time.
Jahmai stated that the way in which the data has been formatted is difficult to
understand and asked about seeing the original survey. She noted responses that
expressed feelings of discrimination and feelings of being unsafe.
Jill agreed with trying to collect information on a regular basis as answers today may
look different than before due to COVID-19. She also noted that microaggressions still
occurred based on her review of the survey results.
Joel stated that the Commission needs to think about ways to get the most robust data.
He also reminded Commission members that the strategic plan expired so a new one
needs to be developed.
The 2019 Annual Report needs to be presented to Council in May. Deb will send out
the final version as well as the original survey questions and the 2017-2019 strategic
plan.
Commissioner Announcements: None
Next Meeting: April 23, 2020 at 5:30pm.
Adjournment: Liming moved and Jill seconded adjournment at 6:12 pm.