Community Services and Youth Committee - Regular Meeting

Six zero three. Can we stop with start with the recording?

Pursuant to the City Council rules of procedure in order of business resolution, the members of all boards and commissions and the public are reminded that they must preserve order and decorum throughout the meeting. In that regard, members of the boards and commissions and the public are advised that any delay or disruption in the proceedings or a refusal to obey the orders of the board or commission where the presiding officer constitutes a violation of these rules. The city of Riverside is committed to fostering a workplace that provides dignity, respect, and civility to our employees, customers, and the public they serve.

Alright. Thank you. Welcome to the Human Relations Commission meeting for the month of February. Would commissioner Melendez lead us in the pledge of allegiance? Thank you very much. Can we do roll call?

We have a quorum.

Alright. Thank you. So starting off with public comment. To comment on any matters within the jurisdiction of the human relations commission, you are invited to participate in person or call (951) 826-8688 and enter meeting ID 92696991265 or and press 9 to be placed into the queue to speak. Individuals in the queue will be prompted to unmute by pressing 6 when you are ready to speak.

To participate via Zoom, please use the link in the agenda and select the raise hand function to request to speak. An on screen message will prompt you to unmute and speak. We do have one speaker in chambers tonight. Can I get Diata?

Did I pronounce

that right? I'm so sorry. Welcome. Yes. Go ahead.

Inequities throughout communities. I have noticed that in Riverside, many underrepresented communities may face barriers such as limited access to clinics, language barriers, and most commonly socioeconomic obstacles. Today I'm here to ask you all a few questions. Number one, does the city track healthcare disparities by race, income level, or neighborhood? And if so, how is that data used to create policy or community initiatives? And my second question is, are there any current efforts to improve access to healthcare resources in underrepresented areas? Thank you for your time and I appreciate any guidance.

Thank you so much for joining. Real quick because I think we couldn't hear you on the mic. What school are you from?

Riverside STEM Academy.

Okay, perfect. Thank you. Does anyone have comments? Okay. I'm not aware of any methods right now that the city is doing to track the data that you're looking for, but I think it's something that we can look into as a commission to try to get more information on whether or not it is being tracked and what are the methods being used for that and how that data is being used.

I I work in the healthcare industry so I appreciate the fact that this question is coming up because it's really common in the industry to make sure that we're able to hit all the different communities and make sure that everyone has the the resources that they need to be able to sustain a wage and a life in this community. Again, just really thank you for coming out and speaking with us and bringing this to our attention. And like I said, we'll continue to look into it. I do you did you leave your information so we can follow-up with you? Yeah. I think I did. Okay. We can if if we are able to find anything after looking into this matter further, we can give you a call to follow-up.

Okay. Sounds good.

Thank you. Is there any other public comment? Okay. Commissioner Farney.

Thank you for your work. A couple things come to mind. I'm sure you have other places that you're seeking this data. Other healthcare providers, the county, etcetera. It would be interesting if you would bring us back the findings

so that we are better informed. So I would appreciate that.

Thank you Commissioner Farney. Are there any other comments? Making sure we don't miss anyone. Okay. We can move forward to the consent calendar. We have two items on the agenda. Two absence yeah. Two absences whether or not to mark them as excused. Do we have a motion? Sorry. Not whether or not to mark them as excused. Do we have a motion to mark them as excused?

Oh.

It's okay. Okay. Sorry about that. The notes that I had had two absences. So it's the minutes for January and then one absence. Do we have a motion?

I'll move approval of the consent calendar. Okay.

And a second.

I'll second.

Commissioner Melendez, second by Commissioner Martis. Are you ready to vote?

Go ahead and vote using your Did everyone vote? Motion passes unanimously.

Alright. Thank you. Now we can move forward to the discussion calendar. First item on the agenda is the 2026 community support grant application. So do we have any comments from our audience or callers online?

No callers. No public comments in chamber.

Okay. Thank you. So just to introduce this item, this is the 2026 community support grant application that we have been collected collecting. We had received 16 applications this year. I think that might be the highest that we've received so far.

So just huge props there already. Just a reminder, we do have $3,000 that we are seeking to award. The grant applications were sent out by email and then through the link in the agenda. We last year, we did kind of a round robin, and we took tally votes in order to decide the top three amongst everybody. We can proceed with that item, but just kinda opening up for any questions or discussions to start. Commissioner Farney?

I believe there was an ad hoc committee that reviewed these applications. And is there any kind of input from that committee?

So the ad hoc committee didn't get a chance to meet. I think that the the applications got sent out pretty close to the agenda as far as I saw. And then, again, again with that, I don't think we even had a chance in a moment to sit down and do that.

I

guess I was relying on that because I didn't get through all of the applications for review on my part. Absolutely. Mayacopa, I don't know. Do we have to make a decision today?

We do. We should make a decision today. It sounds like the city is wanting this to go in front of the finance committee. Okay. We so if we bring this back to March, there's a chance that we might not make it to the finance committee in April.

So we would be cutting it really close in order to make the check. If you guys do, we wish to extend, that would give the ad hoc a moment to put down our votes and our considerations to bring back to this board. Commissioner Melendez.

Thank you. Members of the ad hoc committee were myself and who else? Okay so and we all read them? I read them, you read them, did did you make choices, I made choices, maybe we should share our choices? I've got the mic. Shall I go?

Yes. Okay.

All right. I want to say I was impressed with all the submissions. I made myself cozy and sat in a nice warm chair with a blanket and read them all. And we have some applications from older more established organizations. Organizations.

We have applications from I would guess to say kind of a mom and pop foundation just trying to do something good in the community. So I was really pleased to have read them all and I will tell you that I was tending towards the smaller organizations that don't have a lot of support, that don't have a lot of financial resources. So my top three choices were the Muslim Family Foundation, their cultural humility conference sounded like something we could really use, and and not many organizations, at least to my knowledge, doing that in this area. Also, the Renee Williams organization, Because You Matter and this is a grassroots community response providing toiletries and other things to our unhoused population which is always there. And my third choice was the Training and Research Foundation with their Foundations for All Equitable Early Childhood Access in Riverside.

I was really impressed with the forethought to start teaching equity in preschool and kindergarten because we know we all grow and we learn and if we learn by just it sticks with us. So to learn it at this very early age is to see equality really made a profound impression on me. Those are my three top choices.

Perfect. Thank you. Lewis or Martis, would you like to go?

So I do want to agree with my fellow commissioners assessment. There were really good applications to review so it was hard to go. Okay, which three? So I landed on the Black Arts Museum. I like their project what they want to do.

Sorry. The seven twelve tile project, I like the unity, the mosaic project. I just thought that would be a lasting, like, unifying project. And then the final one is the trinity look at see you so those were my 30.

Commissioner Lewis. I

really was impressed with all of them and I think we you know when we write them regardless if they receive the grant or not we just want to encourage them because I was impressed and I think that we want to encourage. But the Renee Williams organization, I thought that that is very important because of what they're doing is much needed. So that was my number one choice. I also liked the Muslim Family Foundation. I thought that this was a timely thing that they want to do.

I I I was definitely impressed with that. And then my third one was a more established organization which was Adrian Dale and Carmen Roberts I know they received it last year but they're I'm so impressed with the work that they do with young girls. I really feel that it's a need for that. And they really focus in on the young ladies and I've seen the results with some of the ladies that go through the program to come back and volunteer and so those are my three choices

thank you all for sharing Oh, and then Commissioner Goh.

Thank you. So first, before I share my top three, I just want to recognize everybody on this board. Undoubtedly, the 16 applications certainly came out of the advocacy that each of us shared within our own circles. So thank you for continuing to make this program grow because it has in the three years I think that we've now done it. It's just grown on itself every year. So congratulations to us. So my top three, the first one was the Inlandia Institute. It's a quarterly magazine. What I thought was cool about it was one, all of the materials were crowdsourced and it was on different cultural aspects of these contributors. So I thought it was neat.

My second was the seven twelve tile and shower, the mosaic. So the idea this also is crowdsourced but that that was going to come together as a permanent art installment somewhere here in the city. So I thought that kind of lasting impact was pretty neat. And then my third choice also and it's been shared a couple times was the Muslim Family Foundation. I guess the one caveat with that, and I don't know if we have rules around it, but they're headquartered in Moreno Valley despite the fact that they intend to have the conference in Riverside. So don't know if that matters to us or not but if indeed it did, my number four was the Calibri which was a multicultural spring kickoff event. Thank you.

Can we confirm, I thought the organization had to be within the city of Riverside. Is that accurate?

We never wrote that requirement into the information sheet that was sent out. So, I would say it's at the commission's discretion. But, at the last meeting we did discuss that, you know, that the organization should be based in Riverside. That's I think what the consensus was at our last meeting. However, like I said there was nothing in writing so I would say that would be at the discretion of the commission.

Okay, perfect. Thank you. Commissioner Fujimoto.

I just wanted to say I matched Commissioner Lewis. I don't know why. We didn't even talk to each other. I picked the same three. Do

you want to say them for us real quick just for the record?

Okay. The Renee Williams organization, the Muslim Family Foundation, and the Adrian Dell and Carmen Roberts Foundation.

Okay. So do we as a commission wanna proceed with how we did it last year where we did tally marks and everyone gave their top three and we just voted accordingly? Is there any outstanding questions or comments before we proceed with that method? Yeah. Commissioner Lewis?

I just wanted to say that although that the organization is located in Moreno Valley, the Museum of Art, they serve, they have a great presence in the city of Riverside. And I think that the reason why they're not here is that sometimes rent and those kinds of things play a role. But you see they're having their conference in our city. So I don't see that as a problem personally.

I I agree with that sentiment. They're on my top three list as well. I think I think there's something to be considered about measure of impact that you're having in a community rather than just where your brick and mortar is. And we also know that, you know, it gets really confusing on the border of Riverside and Moreno Valley too sometimes. It's our communities are strongly Commissioner Hamush?

Yes. Thank you. I really don't need to add extra, but we utilize the services of the Muslim Family Foundation as like we refer people to them to serve them and help them. And they did more than one, like, training sessions at our Islamic Center. And I've been a speaker for them few times. But it is for just economic reason they utilize the Marina Valley area. And I think one of their leaders lived there. So that's why they have more access.

Thank you for sharing. Give me a second. I feel like every time I move on, someone hits the button last minute. So trying to make sure none of them sneak in. Okay. We can start with voting. Let me get a clean piece of paper, and then we'll just go around. Let's start at the bottom. Commissioner Raya?

I would say Training and Research Foundation, Muslim Family Foundation, and Collibri.

Okay. Commissioner Hamush?

I will go with the Muslim Family Foundation, the Training Research Foundation, and the Black Art Museum.

Commissioner Hugo?

The Inlandia Institute seven twelve Thailand Shower and the Muslim Family Foundation.

Okay. And then, since I'm in order, I'm gonna go with the Creative Kids Club, the Muslim Family Foundation, and the seven twelve tile. Commissioner Melendez?

Sure. Training and Research Foundation, Renee Williams Organization, and the Muslim Family Foundation.

Commissioner Fujimoto?

Adrienne Dell and Carmen Roberts Foundation, Muslim Family Foundation, the Renee Williams Organization.

Commissioner Martis?

Seven twelve Tile and Shower, Trinity Legacy Youth, and Black Arts Museum.

Okay Commissioner Lewis.

Adrienne Dell and Carmen Roberts Foundation, the Muse and Family Foundation and the Renee Williams Organization.

Commissioner Woods.

The Black Arts Museum, the Muslim Family Foundation, and the re Renee Williams Organization.

Okay. And then Commissioner Barney.

I'll go with

the ones that I did take a look at. I just yeah. But I also perhaps we'd like to consider putting in the instructions not having an organization two times in a row or consecutive. So we can spread this around to other organizations. And I also like to comment that kind of targeting the smaller organizations that maybe could use the funding. So the choices I have are the Muslim Family Research Foundation, and the seven twelve Tiles and Shower.

Okay. Thank you. So Crystal will tell me if her count is different than mine. We do have a clear forefront of the Muslim Family Foundation with nine total votes, but then I have a three way tie for second between the Renee Williams Foundation, the Training and Research Foundation, and then seven twelve. So do we wanna consider breaking the grants into potential different we talked about doing a thousand three times, but I think we can do up to go down to 502 times or do we want to try to pick two out of those three?

Commissioner Farney?

I would think that if we limit it to a vote on those three it might give us a clearer picture. I would like to be able to give them enough money to be helpful. Absolutely.

Commissioner Goh.

I was gonna say go with four at $7.50 apiece but I have no concerns with Commissioner Farney's recommendation.

Commissioner Lewis.

I think we should give the thousand dollars so because 500 is just so little a thousand is little so I wouldn't want to go less than and I'm willing to remove my vote from the Adrian Dale Carmen Roberts Foundation you know based on trying to spread spread it around so I'm willing to remove that.

And then put it would

you Where put

would take the vote? Oh oh. I'm gonna move my vote to the Black Art Museum. Bam.

That makes a four way tie. Oh. Which is okay. I think

That's okay though.

A four.

Well, I think we could

we agree that Muslim is number one. Yeah. Why don't we just

yeah. It's Mhmm.

Do you okay. So just for clarification, do we wanna then vote with the four way tie with the vote that you had changed or do we wanna stick with the original three?

We could go with the original three. Okay. Make it easier.

Okay. That's all I wanted. Oh, Commissioner Melendez?

Thank you. We have $3,000 to give away. Is that correct? Yes. So are we proposing that the Muslim Family Foundation receive $1,000 And then you just said with that change of vote we have a four way tie. Could we not give each of those 400 or $500 They're all small things.

That's something we could consider.

Just an alternative.

Yeah. Commissioner Farney?

Well, was going to make a motion. It's gotten a little convoluted. But I'm sensing some flexibility And I don't think we need to spend a lot of time. I do want to be able to give $1,000 to each of the recipients. And so I'm suggesting my motion is to take a revote of the original three that were tied. And let's see where we're at.

Yeah, we can do everyone picks one of the original three. So it's the Renee Williams organization, the Training and Research Foundation, and then seven twelve Tile and Shower. Okay. So can we start with you then, commissioner Fujimu or Farney? The f. So

we're voting on three?

One of the three.

One of the three. The seven twelve tile and shower.

Okay. Commissioner Witt? Woods?

I'll go with the seven twelve tile and shower.

Commissioner Lewis?

I think I'm gonna go with Renee Williams organization.

Commissioner Martis?

Seven twelve.

Commissioner Fujimoto? Renee Williams. Commissioner Melendez?

Renee Williams. I'm

going to go with seven twelve and then we'll go down to Commissioner Goh.

712.

Commissioner Hamush?

Yes, 712.

Then Commissioner Raya,

Training and Research Foundation.

That puts us at seven twelve, the top there, Renee Williams or foundation as third there, and then training institute as fourth. So if we go based on the voting, we would be awarding a thousand to the Muslim Family Foundation, a thousand to seven twelve Tile and Shower, and then a thousand to the Renee William Organization. Is there Commissioner Goh?

No.

So is there more discussion or can we get motion on that vote?

I'll make a motion that we approve to give 1,000 to the Muslim Family Foundation, 1,000 to seven twelve title and shower and 1,000 to the Renee Williams organization.

I second the vote, the motion.

Alright. And then when you're ready can we get a vote?

Go ahead and vote. Motion passes unanimously.

Thank you guys and thank you guys for having that robust conversation. I am really excited to continue this program. I'm excited to see the work that the organizations do and we'll keep you guys posted as we have any updates from there. Moving forward to the next item on our agenda is item number five, review and approve the 2026 work plan. Do we

I just, May I just want to make sure, how are the recipients notified of the decision? Do they all receive some sort of communication? Not the recipients, the applicants.

Oh, the applicants? Mhmm. Last year we did not send oh, I'm sorry. Yes, we did. We did send a notification to the the ones that were awarded and the ones that were not awarded. But before we do that, we do have another step where we need to go to counsel for final approval to award Yeah,

I just wanted to close the loop because sometimes that gets dropped.

Yeah, we will notify them via email.

Thank you. Okay.

Do we have any comments from the audience or public comment on item number five?

No callers, no public comments in chamber.

Okay. And, just to clarify on this item, we do need approval to move this work plan forward for the year or this is just file receive awareness?

So, we can either approve it as it's presented today. Or, if you guys want to make changes, then you can discuss any changes you want to make and we can bring it back at the next meeting for final approval or however you guys want to do it. Or, you can motion to approve it with whatever changes were discussed, kind of however you guys want. But, approving it today as is is on the table as well.

Okay. Perfect. So in your packet, you can see the 2026 work plan draft. This is based on the conversations that we had from our last meeting working through our mission as an organization and then the six goals that we have established. Is there any conversation around these goals or the work plan as a whole? Commissioner Goh.

Thank you chair. Just a very minor typo in number four second line and citywide outreach efforts need no less than twice a year.

Commissioner Farney?

I just wanna make certain the mission didn't change from previous statements, correct?

It shouldn't have, no. Okay, thank Crystal said no. If no other comment, oh Commissioner Lewis.

I move that we approve our six areas as presented.

All right. Do we have a second?

I second.

Right seeing no other comments can we call for the vote?

Please vote using your buttons. The motion passes unanimously.

Alright. Thank you. We will move forward for our next item up for discussion, which is to open the chair and vice chair officer domination. Does this also include does domination also include parliamentarian?

Yeah.

Okay. Do we have any public comment then at this time?

No callers, no public comments in chamber. Okay.

So today discussion is around nominations for the next board term. Seeing if there is any, we will be moving forward next month with taking both and additional nominations can be given prior to that meeting in that discussion. So starting off with preliminary, you know, discussion around this topic. Do we have any comments from commissioners? Okay.

Seeing no comments, we will open nominations for the position of chair, vice chair, and parliamentarian. Do we have any nominations for all or any of those positions? Commissioner Melendez?

Thank you. I nominate you for chair.

Well thank you. Very kind. Commissioner Woods?

I nominate Commissioner Go for Vice Chair.

We also have the position of parliamentarian. Is there any other nominations for parliamentarian or the chair or vice chair positions? Commissioner Melendez?

I nominate The lady red. The lady in red because all of a sudden I've had one of those senior moments.

Commissioner Lewis?

Yes Commissioner Lewis. Sharon I'm sorry.

It's okay. I also had actually a follow-up question to that because I know that you're a parliamentarian this year and I appreciate the work that you've done in that role. Would you consider being parliamentarian another year? Yes. Okay. Thank you. Commissioner Go.

I'm flattered by commissioner Wood's nomination but I'm going to need to decline that.

Okay. Thank you. We should have everyone. Okay. Okay. And then, so it just So, Crystal was saying that we should have everyone who has been nominated at that moment accept or decline the nomination. So just to confirm, commissioner Lewis, you accept the nomination? Okay. And then I will also accept the nomination. Commissioner Fujimoto?

I will need to respectfully decline.

Commissioner Fujimoto again or no? Oh, sorry. Your name stopped there. Sorry. Thought I cleared it. Commissioner Martis.

I would like to nominate a commissioner next to me for vice chair.

It does rather well. I'll

accept. Okay. Okay. Commissioner Lewis? Or commission yeah. We did commissioner Mardis. Commissioner Lewis? She did. Did you have an additional one, commissioner Lewis?

Well, not now. We got somebody. I'm okay. Withdraw.

Commissioner Hamush?

Yes. I I would like to laminate the missus Melendez for the commissioner Melendez for this vice chairman. Okay. Chairwoman.

Thank you

for that but I'll have to pass. I just got too many other things on the boiler.

Oh, it seems you're on the right chair.

That doesn't count.

Okay. Then commissioner Goh? Nothing else? Do we need to agenda is the nominee okay. We're good just ending that discussion unless anyone else has any other final comments. I also wanna let people know too. You can nominate yourself too if you that you are interested for a position. So please also don't hold back from being considered because you don't want to say yourself. We're pausing for a moment, make sure that there's no other last comments.

Yeah. This is not the last chance to nominate folks. If we have new nominations at the March meeting, those can still be added at that time.

Commissioner Lewis?

Yes. Could you read the nominations now that we have?

So currently, we have the nomination nomination for commissioner Fujimoto as vice chair. Mhmm. And then we have the nomination for you as parliamentarian. Okay. Moving forward to the next item on our agenda. This is item number seven, attendance of events. Do we have any public comment?

No callers online. No public comments in chamber.

Okay. So this is the agenda item where we seek to agenda items for the commission's attendance coming up in the next couple months. Do we have any items that anyone would like to consider? Commissioner Farney?

I would like to have a report from the Blue Zones Project Riverside. They've completed their first year and have pretty much developed a strategic plan for second year. So I'd like to have them come and talk to us about that.

Okay. I think that's for items for future discussion later on the agenda. This is the ones where we potentially have a table at. We consider attending on behalf of commission.

Thank you.

Of course, of course. I wrote a demo to remind you in case at the end.

I didn't think I'd done it.

I see no other comments for events coming up over the next month. We will oh, sorry. One last one. Commissioner Valendas.

Sorry. Okay. Just to throw out there, there are some things coming up. I believe the Citrus Heritage Park Festival is in March, and I'm trying to see the day here. It was in my calendar. I believe it's the March it's usually the April but it was changed this year we can find the dates but that's a possibility, a tabling possibility. It's a Saturday event. And then, of course, there's the Tamale festival coming up on April 18.

So, those two things

are up that I know of.

Okay. Do we have anyone at this do we have the well, you can share the details over to Crystal. And then, Crystal, can you get it out to the commission to see who can attend? Okay. Perfect. And it looks like it is Saturday, March 28 from 11AM to 5PM.

Thank

you. Of course. Alright. Any other final items for this? Okay. So we have we do need a motion to approve attendance at the it's called the annual citrus festival and then the tamale festival.

I'll move to approve.

I'll second.

Commissioner Raya? Okay, thank you.

Go ahead and vote using your buttons. Motion passes unanimously.

Alright, thank you all. Okay. Final items on our agenda. If there's any ad hoc committee updates at this time. I know the housing ad hoc, we didn't get a chance to meet after the last meeting or do you have an update, commissioner Raya?

Or could we meet with, like, other departments?

The the ad hoc is able to coordinate meetings with Okay. Other organizations or whatnot.

And would it go through you?

No. You don't have to go through me. It's if it you know, it's not an agendized published meeting, then you guys can just coordinate that amongst yourselves.

Okay. And to to get the contact of the individual, would that go through you? Or how does Is that

it who was it that you guys are wanting to meet with? I'm sorry. I haven't looked at your email.

So, like, I'm thinking of getting some information about the housing element, the analysis of the kind of it, and then maybe reaching out to 211 as it relates to housing. So who would I contact?

So for the I guess, the ones that are city related, we can we can talk and see who the right contact would be. Okay. And then I'm not too sure. 211, I don't think that's a city run line, so that might be something where we need to figure out who that contact would be.

I might have a potential contact for 211. I think I did. I used to. Thank you. Commissioner

Goh? I can absolutely get us a contact for 201. I can take that action and get that to you, Christa.

Oh, awesome. Thank you for that. And then the bylaws ad hoc hasn't met in a while because I know that there was still kind of a lot up in the air. Do we have any direction on the bylaws so we know whether or not we need to meet?

We we don't have any updates on that front

Okay. This time. And then I think the only other one I can think of is the I think it's a community events ad hoc. Do we have any updates? I think that's what they're called. I'm sorry. There was a couple of names that were confusing. About around coordinating and developing our own events as a commission. Mister Marta?

Didn't we dissolve that?

That one was dissolved? Okay.

Yeah. I think it was the meet and greet. Okay. Ad hoc.

Okay. Commissioner Fujimoto?

I wasn't sure but I thought we at least I thought we should continue or reactivate it because that way we can get out in the public and make ourselves more visible. I

think we can add that in when we get to items for future human relations discussion to hold that for just a minute. Okay. Seeing nothing else, moving forward to commissioner updates on external meetings, conferences, and committees attended. Can we start down with Commissioner Parney?

Yes. I spent all day I'm tired. So I'm sorry. It's been a very busy week. I spent the day at the Grow Conference that is sponsored by the city but also the Inland Empire Food Systems Alliance facilitates and basically plans the agenda speakers etcetera. Fantastic conference. I think it was the best attended that we've had. And it had four tracks. And again, all the tracks are well attended. I chose to attend the Blue Zones track, which is the second year that they've done that.

And targeting specifically food access issues. So that does again work in with our mission. But I wanted the commission to be aware of conference. It's an annual conference. And it was very well done.

Thank you. Commissioner Woods?

I'm a little confused. Is this where we say what we attended through the

month? Yeah.

Okay. Because last time I got it confused. Okay. So February 14, I attended the Black History Parade and Expo, and we had a table there that a few of us took turns sitting at giving out information about this committee commission. And then February 25, I attended and participated in the Stratton Center Borough Park Advisory Board meeting.

Thank you. Commissioner Lewis?

On February 0 I believe it was the seventh, we had the the black history reception and it was really really good. Oh I'm sorry.

Attended that too. I was the

co chair. I'm sorry.

I looked over at you.

Yeah sorry. Busy month. I was the co chair of that and I forgot. Sorry.

Was a well attended event. A lot of our dignitaries, the mayor was there. It was very well done. February 14, first of all I would like to give a shout out to Commissioner Woods and Commissioner Rayna. They did a phenomenal job you know with setting everything up. Think I was involved in three different booths. That's how busy it was and it's wonderful to have colleagues that have your back. So I just wanted to say that February 14 was amazing event. And if you didn't attend this year you must come next year. It was just like a family reunion.

You saw so many people that you were able to communicate with. And on February 21 at the civil rights institute I attended the black history, program there brick by brick and of course I attended that because we did the performance my nonprofit, EmpowerU entertainment. It was is a good collaboration so those are the events I attended recently

thank you so

a lot of the usual events that I attend are the anti trafficking events. The big one during February is the Justice Matters Conference, and there are about a couple of thousand people who attend and all of the focus is on anti trafficking whether it's preventing or restoration for those who have lived through trafficking.

Thank you. Commissioner Fujimoto?

I did attend the state of the city speech. Thank

you. Commissioner Arkelman.

Nothing to report.

Commissioner Melendez.

I attended the mayor's state of the city address as well and the black history parade and it was a phenomenal parade with over 100 entries. And the expo was phenomenal as well. Our organization Spanish Town Heritage Foundation had a booth there. And we were happy to share our common history with Alice Rowan Johnson who was the first African American teacher who taught here in Riverside in the 1890s to all her students who spoke nothing but Spanish. And she spoke only English.

So we say it was the first instance of immersion that they found in the school. But it worked and we move on. So I was happy to do that. And the Adriana Del Roberts Foundation has done a wonderful job with this event and this the parade. So much success to them and let's keep it going. Thank you. Commissioner Reyes?

I also attended the Black History Parade for a little bit but it was was a good time. I really enjoyed interacting with people and learning what they thought about the city and some of the barriers. Housing came up a lot so that was, you know, it just it made me realize how important it is. Thank you for sharing. Commissioner, how much?

Many things today. This month, I attended the speech of the mayor in a convention center and the inauguration of the new chancellor of the UCR. That was really a major event. And we've been fasting for the last ten days in the month of Ramadan. So my people is waiting for me. I should be there by 07:00, but that's alright. That's what I'll take the next young time. As you know, we fast before from sun from dawn until sun sunset. So I just had my water today. Everybody have feast and eating. But thank you.

Thank you. Alright. And then for myself, I was only able to attend the State of the City address this month. We have been very immersed in children's soccer this month, so trying to get our grip between all the tournaments this weekend. But again, it was just it was really impactful to hear the mayor speak and present and really highlight a lot of the issues that I felt like we speak to as a commission.

And it really empowered myself to wanna come back here and continue to do this work and build the community with you guys. So, thank you for sharing. Commissioner Wood, did you have your hand? Oh and then just a reminder to use mics.

Can you hear me now?

Yes. Oh I'm sorry.

Again, encouraging all who can, if they have young ladies between the ages of 12 and 21, to encourage them to come out. You can go on a QR code and get them scanned in for free. There's no cost and it's for young ladies. March 7 at RCC. And it's a really good day for them. Everything's free to them. There's a lot of sponsors. A lot of our city officials and women in different areas in our city come out and speak to the young ladies. There's forums, there's workshops, they get breakfast and lunch, raffles, all kind of things, but it's just for them. And again the focal point of it all is the human trafficking in this area.

I had no idea until I first started working with this organization about the level of that.

I don't I don't know

what to say but the level of that horrificness in this area from here down to the the Mexican border right here. So that that was my spiel. March 7, Empower Young Women's Conference.

Thank you. Would you be able to share flyer with Christelle so we can get a Okay. Thank you so much. And then Commissioner Farney?

I said I was tired. I had a couple more things I'd like to add. The January 15, the Civil Rights Institute had an opening event that attracted like 300 people. It was targeting or not targeting, but focusing on LGBTQ out in IE. And they have an ongoing exhibit I think through June.

And so I would encourage people to see the exhibit. They do really professional presentations of different topics. So that was exciting. Also the state of the city on the January 28. And then the other thing that I started to get involved in is a community support effort to address some of our immigration challenges or the presence of ICE in the border patrol in Riverside. There was a community meeting at the seller bookstore. And this is all grassroots pretty much. There are three different entities. I can only remember two that I'm on. One is to help with mutual aid.

So if somebody is taken by ICE or the border patrol, there's a huge void. And there's a lot of need there. So part of this is organizing to provide food, resources if they need transportation to places. So it's exciting to see this come from the community. Just an outpouring of support and helping our neighbors. The other one is basically ICE being present. You get a call and say ICE is in the neighborhood. And so you're asked to go not get involved. There's no contact. But to go and just meet an observer, present so that at least it is observed.

And they're very sophisticated I think in terms of they know the vehicles that these entities use. And I'm excited about, I'm frustrated because I don't what can I do? And this is something that I can do. So that was the other thing.

Thank you for sharing. Commissioner Reyes?

I was just going to ask for a flyer for Commissioner Woods. Thank you.

Okay. Commissioner Melendez.

Since we're all taking a little time to remember what we've done for the past month it is hard late in the evening. But I did attend the opening of the new exhibition at the Cheech, the Chicana photography, which is really wonderful. I encourage all to go see it.

Wonderful. Thank you so much. And thank you everyone for taking the moment to share. Moving forward to items for future human relations commission. I know we had a couple of those already come up, but we will go around. And I will start with commissioner Raya.

Nothing that I can think of right now.

Okay. You. Commissioner Hamush?

None at this time.

I feel like we've had several on the list, so maybe we can connect and see which one of those we can work on separately. Thank you. And then Commissioner Melendez.

I'd like to join Commissioner Farney with requesting something from the Blue Zones Project and also an update from the Inland Coalition for Immigrant Justice.

Commissioner Agrobat?

Nothing at this time.

Commissioner Fujiboto?

Well I wanted the reactivation of the meet and greet. And also I don't know where this goes but from what I remember or what I read the city council turned down a housing grant and I don't know if we can have any input into that or can we because they've turned it down I know that there are a lot of people that are

I think we would need to know how it ties directly to this commission

well it's for the homeless it's a housing grant for the homeless that they sent back to the state

homeless within our purview

I would say like homelessness specifically.

No, what it was is the state had

No, granted I know what the item is but I don't know that topic is in the Human Relations Commission purview unless it was specifically disparities, related to certain groups or something of that

nature. I was wondering if there's any way we can

We've have some voice in had these types of instances before where the city council has voted to, you know, decline a certain item. And, unfortunately, at that point, it's not really they're not wanting any recommendations from the board and commissions because they've already made their decision. So, they've received a lot of public comment about that. So, if they were gonna make a motion to reconsider, I've in my personal opinion, I feel that they would have done so already.

I wonder though if us as an ad hoc can connect it, not just look into that situation, but other areas that we can kind of build on that and address it. Just also help find that tie directly back to our commission. Commissioner Melendez?

Can you please turn your mic on? I'm sorry.

It's on. Okay, sorry. Secondly, deadline even the extended deadline has passed. So it's a done deal, it's gone. But what I would like to suggest that is in the future when we see these items coming up through council committee, we somehow we need to look at them and say does that apply to our work plan? And if so, suggest that it come to our commission to at least review.

I think with that, it's gonna take a very concerted effort from all of us to monitor that agenda, to connect that back almost like in the moment to try to get that agenda and discussed at these meetings as they come up. I think we're it's a little tricky that, you know, we meet once a month, council meets quite frequently. So I think, again, I think with a concerted effort, we can make headway in that. I think we just need to overall continue to be attentive to it and work on it. Commissioner Farney?

You're spot on because I was going to say this absolutely is an area that comes under the purview of this commission with regards to the issue of the homeless and some of what was expressed in terms of the inequities. So that was one of the things. But I also want to just I'm thinking something else that I'm monitoring with another group is community engagement. I really feel like we would be, the city would be so much better off if there was better communication between us and the city council members and the city council members and the commissions, all the commissions. When there are things that come up on the agenda, they don't seem to take that step in the most part, making generalizations, but don't connect with the various commissions that might have some guidance on those issues.

And so community engagement is something I'd like to explore. Crystal, is that an area that would be appropriate for this commission to track?

Just community engagement in general? Like the commission wanting to do more community engagement?

No. The lack of community engagement in our city in terms of input from residents into issues. I just feel like that certainly could have some fine tuning. That two way communication back and forth and the ability to, I mean they serve the community. The council serves and the community needs to have a voice and those voices might express different opinions but a lot of it has to do with inequity or concerns that I think could fall under this commission.

I understand it would have to be this specific item. Am I making some sense in terms of community engagement? I think it's an area that I'd like to maybe monitor and see if this commission would be helpful.

I feel like it's something too. We've kinda talked about in different formats, not even just as it relates to the council. I think it's been something that commissioner Lewis has brought up on several occasions, you know, getting people here. How do we engage the community in that way to where we're getting valuable feedback? I think we can maybe think about how to bring that topic back in a way that makes sense for this commission and then for all of us as a whole. Commissioner Lewis? I think we need

to bring the homeless situation back up for the reasons I just want to remind my colleagues that we've had presentation on homeless in this chambers right here. And the other thing I wanted to bring up is that statistically, and I would like to know, someone brought up, well, it didn't deal with our areas because, you know, it's not dealing with race or racism, that kind of thing. But economically, I would like to see the homeless, count in terms of the portion of the, the ethnicities in the, in our, you know, area. So I would like to see that because the homeless, situation is dear to all of our hearts. Mhmm.

Somebody's mother, somebody's father, somebody's children, and it impacts all of us. And we have to do something. And so it can, okay, it didn't pass. So we move on. No, we don't move on. I think that the passion of why we're here is one of the areas that we want to address is the homeless situation. So I just wanted to bring that up that we need to do that. And when, with my time, I don't know if you want to speak now, but I did, I do have a couple of questions about speakers. Do you would like me to bring them up now?

Go back and get into order and then you'll be up really quickly. I also just kinda to finish off the housing conversation. I see we do have one more and then we'll take this last one and then move forward. Directly in our goals, right? We talk about addressing housing disparities. We talk about addressing basic human rights and I think all of these things that we're talking about continue to funnel that conversation. So definitely something that we'll continue to figure out how to address as a commission and build on these conversations. Commissioner Raya?

I was just wondering going back to the homeless discussion that we were having. I think don't we do like a homeless count every year? Mhmm. And that's done January. Right? Around ish?

Point in thought it was October. January?

I think it's January. The

longest night is in December and that's the homeless person's memorial night. But I think Okay.

But maybe I don't know when the report comes out if we could have a presentation about

Okay. Let's move forward back in order, commissioner Farnus. Guess

I'm not sure how to label it, but that focus of filling this room and coming up with some, like, specific steps we can take to try to fill the seats so I think that's a discussion for us

okay commissioner Lewis

I agree with that. We need to have a discussion concerning how we could get people here. And, I did have a question for Crystal. Is it appropriate like if we know we're having certain speaker is it a way to communicate that so people would know that they could come here and hear that person presentation we have seen we have had some really great presentations but it's to us where it really should be to the community as well. So that's my question for you.

I think that would be more on the individual commissioners. You want to share it on your personal social media networks or with your own networks. But the different from

asking that because the city has social media.

Yeah. If we start sharing for one commission, then we have to share for all the commissions. There's 16 boards and commissions and unfortunately would not be realistic for us to share every single board and commissions speakers and presentations. So, my personal recommendation would be to utilize your own resources and share those those things. Because I mean, we do the city publishes the agendas obviously online. So, it's it's available there in that sense but I don't think it's realistic for the city to share about individual presentations

okay okay yeah well if we had that on agenda then we could talk about it creatively I want to go back to we had a speaker and we didn't have enough people and that was I believe his name was doctor Jones from Riverside County I would like to have him come back And then I believe our police chief came and we didn't have enough people. I would like for us to invite Police Chief Gonzales back as well. Those are my two recommendations.

What

was the gentleman's name that was going to present?

I think his name was doctor Jones.

Okay. It's been quite a while, actually, and I don't think I have it listed on our spreadsheet.

He he was he was a presenter.

Yeah. I remember. I'm just trying to remember what it was

his I'm name I

think his

name was that, but I'm we taught, he was, administrator at a school when I taught it. And it's been many years or so. So you kind of forget. But I'm quite sure you'd be able to look back.

He is

That was at the October meeting? Was that at the October meeting?

It might have been the October meeting. Yeah. October is a meeting that we didn't have enough people to have the meeting form. Yeah. If you have trouble, finding that information, contact me and then I'll do my research and see if I could find his name.

We can look back at the minutes. Okay. So I'm sure I'm sure we can find that. Just trying to make my leg work a little bit easier if we had more clues.

Okay. Alright.

Commissioner Farney?

I just wanted to let Crystal know that I can give you a contact for Blue Zones to follow-up on that. Thank you.

Alright. Thank you all. Moving forward with staff updates.

Thank you. So, I know there are a lot, quite a few pending items on the future items calendar. So, I've tried to be more diligent about keeping this up to date at the last couple of meetings. So, I do have the Blue Zones project on there. We have that tentatively for April.

We do have, you know, some of the items recently requested that I have reached out to Pepe Jackson about DEI and the workforce. He has responded. We've reached out to Barry Knight several times about DEI presentation. So, a lot of these I do reach out to the contacts, but I don't receive any response. So, if you guys have any personal contacts or any sort of, you know, door or foot in the door that can help us to get some of these speakers to come, commit to coming to the meetings.

For example, we also had one of the meetings, we were supposed to have a presentation from UCR faculty regarding research on belonging and civic engagement. They've I've been in contact with them every single month, but since the they originally committed these past few months, they have not been available at the time. So, all that to say just that we do make efforts to get some of these items, but unfortunately sometimes it's hard to line up the scheduling and and the timing of the meeting as you all know. Know, it's difficult for some people. So, if there's any way that you guys can help with getting some of these people to commit, would be really helpful.

For our immigration enforcement update, in January, there were no reports to the police department about immigration enforcement activity. However, we did have three reports from the community submitted through the 311 portal. And, those were just regarding sightings of ICE operations in the city. And, in February so far, we had one notification to the police department and we did not receive any reports through the three one one portal. And then, the only other update that I have is just to let you all know that this will be my last meeting staffing the commission.

We have a new staff person that's gonna be taking over in my place. Her name is Stephanie. So, effective actually tomorrow is her first day in the new role. So, she'll be I I will, you know, do a formal introduction via email so you guys can have her contact information. But, this will be my last meeting, so I just wanna thank you all. You guys have been a pleasure to work with. And, going forward, Stephanie will be taking the reins from here. Thank you.

Perfect. Thank you. And, just a quick question going back to the items for future calendar. Can you remind me what review of city MEI scorecard is?

So, that was one that I actually added. It was requested by the mayor. So, I don't wanna give any information that's not correct because I don't quite remember what the MEI stood for. But, my understanding was that the city is graded on certain factors and I I think it was it's things like, you know, do you have a DEI officer? Do you have an LGBTQ liaison?

Things of that nature and again, I don't wanna give any false information, but that was something that I was approached by the mayor's office. And they've already received the MEI scorecard for 2025. Mhmm. But they were wondering if the commission would like to review it and make any recommendations on how to improve that score for next year. So, that's what that item was.

Okay. Then, highlighting if we can try to get that probably sooner than later. Thank you.

And then, Commissioner Melendez. Apologies for that. I was trying to take that off. But I do have another contact for UCR and you could probably pass it on to Stephanie. It's Doctor. Kathy Gutis. Okay. Perfect. Thank you.

Okay. So the next human relations commission meeting is going to be on Thursday, March 26 at 6PM. With that, our meeting is adjourned at 07:20. Mhmm. Thank you.