Community Services and Youth Committee - Regular Meeting

Alright. Thank you, everyone. We're gonna call the meeting to order at 06:01. Thank you for joining us today for the Riverside Human Relations Commission meeting. I want to start off with the pledge of allegiance.

If commissioner Harmouche wouldn't mind leading leading us in the pledge today. To the flag of of The United States Of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under god, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Alright. Thank you, everyone. Please be patient with me as I try to remember what we do at the beginning of the meeting. I do know that we have the inclusivity statement that needs to be read.

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 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.

Thank you for that. And secretary, ready for roll call?

Yes. In no particular order, commissioner Farney? Commissioner Woods? Here. Commissioner Fujimoto? Here. Commissioner Raya? Here. Commissioner Hernandez? Commissioner Harmouche? Here. Commissioner Gordon? Here. Vice Chair Galbraith? Here. Commissioner Mardis? Here. Commissioner Melendez? Here. Commissioner Lewis?

Here. Commissioner Goh? Commissioner Aggramon? Thank you.

Great. Thank you for that. Just a reminder, to comment on any matter 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. Press 9 to be placed in 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. Do we have any public comment? Thank you. Item number two on the agenda is our consent calendar, which is comprised of the minutes for February 2026. Do we have a motion to approve the consent calendar?

I move that we approve the consent calendar.

I

second.

Thank you.

Who made the motion?

And second by Woods.

Please vote.

Are we missing one?

I think we're missing one.

Yeah. Try one more time.

I'm gonna stop the vote, and, I'm gonna go commissioner by commissioner.

In no particular order, commissioner Raya? Yes. Thank you. Commissioner Hernandez? Commissioner Harmouge?

Yes.

Commissioner Gordon? Yes. Vice chair Galbraith?

Yes.

Commissioner Mardis?

Yes.

Commissioner Melendez?

Yes.

Commissioner Lewis?

Yes.

Motion passes unanimously. Alright.

Yes, commissioner Fujimoto?

My name I wasn't called.

Sorry about that. Commissioner Fujimoto?

Yes. And

And commissioner Woods? Commissioner Raya, were you called to? Okay. So just commissioner Woods as well.

Thank you. Voting's been updated. Motion passes unanimously. Thank you.

I think we still need to get commissioner Wood's vote.

I vote yes.

Okay. There we go.

Thank you.

Yeah. I'm like waiting.

Thank you. Give me just one second Vice Chair.

Yes of course. Would it help if I show the names?

Do you

need the names?

Yes, please.

So starting on the end, we have commissioner Lewis. We have commissioner Melendez. We have commissioner Martis. We have vice chair Galbraith. We have commissioner Gordon. We have commissioner Harmush. We have a blank space. We have commissioner Raya, commissioner Fujimoto, and then commissioner Woods. Thanks.

Thank you. I just reset the system.

Okay. Thank you. Do we are we good to go? Yes. Okay. Perfect. Do we have any public comment for item number three, election of chair, vice chair, and parliamentarian?

No callers for item three.

Okay. Perfect. And just to introduce back this item, this is our annual election for the position of chair, vice chair, and parliamentarian. We do have nominations currently on the board. One for me in the position of chair, commissioner Fujimoto in the position of vice chair, and commissioner Lewis in the position parliamentarian.

This is the space for additional nomination if if anyone anyone wants to be considered or would like to nominate anyone else. Just as a reminder, if you do nominate someone else, that person would need to accept any nomination. So with that, do we have any additional nominations at this time? And if no additional nominations, do we have a motion to approve that slate?

Yes. I will move to accept the nominated persons into the position they are nominated for and to confirm that.

Second. So that one's motion by commissioner Homoush, second by commissioner Melendez.

Please vote. Motion passes unanimously with nine yes votes.

Thank you. Thank you. And congratulations to the other nominees. I'm excited for this year ahead. And I appreciate you guys voting me into this position. I think we have a lot to learn and a lot to grow this year. But again, I'm just really grateful for your guys' support. Moving on to item number four on the discussion calendar. Do we have any public comments on this item?

No callers for item four.

Okay. Thank you. Do you have context to why this one is attended or is this our general attendance?

Just general attendance.

Okay. So commissioners, I wanna correct me if I'm wrong. This is the item in which we are considering future attendance at events on behalf of the commission. Does anyone have any that they would like to be considered? Commissioner Lewis? I just wanted

to make sure at the last meeting I mentioned Juneteenth so that should be on the record. That's June. June 19 is the date. But, I believe that, I was mentioning the one that, we have at the park. So I don't know. I thought I gave that date last time, but I can make sure that you get it Stephanie so that we have that on record. I think we all agreed we participated last year.

Yeah. And I don't know kind of how much you talk to Crystal about the events, but we do have, like, events and tables and stuff that this is our item to decide who what we're gonna attend and then who's gonna attend. I don't know if we had any volunteers to attend. So I think if anyone can volunteer to attend this event too, if you can send that over if you are available to Stephanie. And then if you maybe have details, can you send that over to Stephanie as

well? Yeah. I also Yeah. Of course. With the Civil Rights Institute so they're doing the Juneteenth this year. So there might be an option of having a cooler situation. Know month of June is very, very hot and they welcome vendors to be there as well. There's no charge. So that might be the option that we might want to do because two things. Last year, they had tables already so we just had to bring everything.

It was an easier thing to do. And so I'm highly recommending that. They're working on their date. So as soon as I get it, I could send that so that we all agree that that's one of the events that we want, you know, we want to do.

Okay. Perfect. And do would you be able to check to make sure that we approve the Juneteenth event

Yes.

At the last meeting?

I can follow-up and then I can send an email to all the commissioners confirming. I did I was informed by Christelle that the table skirt and I believe the easy up, one of the commissioners, has it from the previous event. So we can get that back so that if another commissioner attends another special event we can definitely check that out to the next person.

Okay perfect thank you. Commissioner Raya? I

have the easy up but I do not have the table skirt. I don't know where that went. I

know I returned the chairs to Crystal, but we found the easy up. Sounds like we're missing the table and potentially the table cloth still.

I brought that here to a Christelle in person.

Okay. The

the cart, the table, the table cloth.

Okay.

All she was looking for was the easy up and commissioner Rayette confirmed she had it.

Perfect. I will check the storage and then I will include all this information in that one email.

Okay. Perfect. Thank you so much. And then commissioner Woods, did you have another one? Okay. Perfect. Thank you so much. Hearing no other discussion items and being that we believe that it should be already recorded in the minutes as approved from the last meeting. Do you guys wanna make a motion to make sure that it's still captured? Okay. Do we have a motion to approve the commission's attendance at the Juneteenth event on the nineteenth?

I move that we approve attendance at the Juneteenth event.

Do we have a second?

I second.

Okay. So, by Commissioner Lewis, second by Commissioner Woods.

Madam Chair, can I amend that to say the Civil Rights Institute, Juneteenth?

Do you wanna do both? No. I

probably well, I think for me, that's

Yeah.

I think that's the easier one just based on how few people that we have. And so we don't wanna be stressed. I'm recommending that we do the one at the Civil Rights Institute.

Okay. Do we need to record the actual dates and everything in that?

Yes. If somebody wants to make another motion to include that.

Do we have the dates?

They don't have the date. It's coming up. The month before we meet again, that date I could send to you, Stephanie.

Okay. If you want to just make the motion to include both the special events and then if someone wants to second that motion for the record.

Specifically Juneteenth at the Civil Rights Institute.

Okay. So do we have a motion for both Juneteenth events? One of them at the Civil Rights Institute and then the other one that was approved at the last month. Then we'll get more details to follow. Commissioner Raya?

I think commissioner Lewis is chain is changing it. So not the Juneteenth event event and the Greater Riverside area but just the one at the Civil Rights Institute right? Does that mean

Do we have a motion to approve the Juneteenth event at the Civil Rights Institute?

I motion to approve the Juneteenth event at the Civil Rights Institute.

We have a second.

Sorry. I second.

Okay. So we have a motion to approve the commission's attendance at the Juneteenth event hosted by the Civil Rights Institute by commissioner Raya with a second by commissioner Woods.

Please vote. We have nine yes votes, zero no votes. Motion passes unanimously. Okay. Thank you, guys.

Let's move on to item number five on our discussion calendar. Do we have any public comments on this item?

No callers for item five.

Okay. And then I think you were gonna kinda give us update as to why this item was being brought?

Yes. Commissioner Farney emailed requesting that you all receive an update regarding the vacant seats. There were there were at the time three vacant seats and commissioner Christina Gordon actually occupied one of the citywide seats. So as of 03/03/2026 that Christina Gordon was appointed and sworn in as a citywide commissioner. With this recent appointment, the commission currently has 13 filled seats out of the 15 authorized positions.

Two vacancies currently remain on the commission open representing Ward 3 and Ward 7. The Ward 3 vacancy occurred on 01/27/2026, and five applications currently on file have been forwarded to council member Robillard for review. The Ward 7 vacancy occurred on 08/19/2025, and there are five applications, all of which have been forwarded to council member Hemingway also for review. At this point, the the commissioner Farney, who is actually not in attendance, wanted to turn to discussion for you all to figure out if there was any recruitment that you all can do out in the community to potentially have somebody fill out an application.

Okay. Thank you so much. I do wanna ask, do we know when those five applications were received for those different vacancies?

I don't have a date in terms of when they were received, only when they were forwarded over to the respective council members.

Okay.

Do we have any discussion on this item? I know a lot of our concern as a commission has been trying to fill this room and also trying to fill these spaces. Right? Because ultimately, at the end of the day, the more diversity and the more people we have in this board, the more likely we can not only have power in the positions that we sit in, but also make sure that we're also equally represented. So I I know that vacancies has been a concern for our commission for quite a while.

I appreciate the fact that you're stepping on, so welcome to the commission. I I don't know anyone specifically in these communities, but I would suggest if you guys do to please make sure that you're forwarding this out and recommending anyone to apply. But I also wonder if there's anything that we can do to help encourage council members to make a selection to fill these seats. Is there anything that you know of that we can do as a commission?

So appointing the commissioner seats is to it's up to the discretion of each of each council member. My best recommendation to you all would be to contact that respective council member, which in this case happens to be council member Robillard and council member Hemingway.

Okay. Thank you.

And the recommendation for this report is just to receive and file.

Perfect. Thank you so much. And seeing no other discussion I'm trying to hold because I feel like every time I try to move on, someone has a discussion item. But seeing no other discussion item, I think thank you again for bringing this to our attention. And, again, as you guys continue to be in your communities, advocate to help fill these seats as well.

And if you can reach out to one of these council members to encourage them to help fill those seats, I think that would be very helpful as well. So with that, moving on to item number six, HRC ad hoc committee updates. I know I think at our last meeting when we were discussing with Crystal, we wanted to get a more updated list of what our current ad hoc committees are. We had sunset a few. We had tried to bring back a couple, and I think a lot of that kinda got lost in translation.

I don't know if there's any current ad hocs that you guys are aware of that you guys wanna make sure has spoken to at this time. Commissioner Fujimoto?

Well, I wanted to meet and greet ad hoc reinstate you know, restarted because that's the way we could get our name and our purpose out to the community and encourage people to attend our

meetings. Okay. I think we need to bring that item up on the future item request, but I made a note of it for when we get to that item as well. Thank you. Commissioner Raya?

I can just share from the last meeting for the housing ad hoc committee. I know that we had I had shared that I kind of wanted to have staff from the city come and present to the ad hoc committee not to the full commission but just the ad hoc committee. So I was just waiting for the new person because I knew Crystal was leaving. So, miss Gallo shared that. What would be the process to do that?

I can go back and definitely check with the city clerk and find out and I'll report back on the next meeting.

Perfect. Thank you. Of course.

Then I know just for your notes too, one of the other committees or ad hocs that we had was the bylaws committee I think it's what it's called. That bylaw ad hoc was put on hold because there was a lot of back and forth with the city's legal office and then it kinda keeps stalling and starting. So that ad hoc I believe still exists but I think we know we need to know if we need to continue that item if there is still pending need or if we need to sunset that ad hoc.

Okay.

But I think that is another one that we should be checking on.

Commissioner Lewis? Yes. I would like to ask the question question Yes. Concerning concerning when we had the very successful thing in the Mayor's Conference Room where we had the civil rights people came and the community came. It was very well attended. How, I know I was part of that. Was that a ad hoc that we did? How did we get there? And, and the reason why I'm bringing it up because I think that we should do that again. Because what came from that is the people wanted to know what was the next steps and we were supposed to, continue with that meeting.

So I guess my question is, how do we be able how do we implement this again because it was so well received and I think it's connected with how do we can fill these seats because that's my main concern we could have the greatest speakers but we're like the only ones hearing this like preaching to the choir or listening. The choir listening, but the congregation is not aware. So we have to do something about that.

I think that was part of and, again, forgive me if my memory is wrong. I think that was part of, like, the stopping hate ad hoc, which had gone for a while. And I think that's part of the challenge, you know, Brock was involved in so many of these things. But now that he's not here, think it's trying to figure out which of these things were going, which ones he was leading, So maybe we can either succession plan because I do think that was one that he was

I I was I was part of that. Yeah. And we I helped him with it. We need to bring that back

Yeah.

Because with the world being what it is today, I'm concerned, you know? And and we should have, means of checking in and seeing what the community is thinking. And so, that's something that I think that I would like to see on the agenda. How can we bring that back? And maybe that leads into the meet and greet. But when we have people that are, you know there were so many issues that was brought up that we never really dealt with them like we should. I feel that we need to finish that work.

And commissioners and chair, just to advise too, the work plan that was previously adopted and carried over into this next year, I believe when Christal was assisting too, that work plan is also comprised of the ad hocs, and that work plan is designed to help the commission in terms of planning and and the type of work that you all are, you know, gonna see forward into the community. So that might help in terms of the ad hocs that you might want to maybe rethink in the future and the type of work that you want to be intentional in performing moving forward. That's something, Chair, that you and I can definitely sit down rethink in the bylaws that you mentioned and something that you can work alongside the commissioners as well.

Yeah. I know we had talked about setting up a meeting to really just like dig into all of this. And I think that my other concern too is there was a lot of ad hocs that I don't know if they were sunset, if they're continuing, what they're called, just to make sure that we're all on the same page. We know which ones that we know the work that we've agreed to do, and we can build off that with the work that we want to be doing. I wanna I know commissioner Raya was waiting, so I wanna come back to her.

And just when commissioner Lewis mentioned about the stop hate event that you guys had, I do recall Brock mentioning that there was supposed to be like a report that came out of it. And so I don't remember where that is or who we could contact to figure out where it is. So that's all thank you.

Can call Brock to pick his brain too. Myron is that

the ad hoc committee is formed to do certain tasks and if that task is not completed, that ad hoc committee is still in existence. So that's why I'm bringing that up. Our work was not finished. And so we need to do that. I think that when you bring community together and get them hyped up and and and responding, we owe that. Like you said, the report. Where is that report? We need to look at it ourselves to see because that's pretty much a need assessment when you have that report. It was the civil rights people. I would love to see them back again because they have the tools and the expertise to do that.

So basically we organized it but they when they came they used their computers. So if we could get the names of the individuals that did that they probably have that report. So I just think it's just me to go back and making sure that we are finishing up what we started. I think that's key to our integrity.

Yeah. Thank you, Commissioner Lewis. So coming out of this, we I will meet with you, Stephanie, to review the current ad hocs, make sure that we're getting them on the agenda. I would this is just my wish list. I would like to see if we can add that list of open ad hoc committees here so we can make sure intentionally that we're getting reports out on every meeting.

And then review the current ones, make sure that anyone who's on those get the notifications that they're on those, and then we'll continue the work and then connect on what we need to do to continue to build. Alright. Moving on to the next item, item number eight, items for future human relations commission consideration. So as a reminder and for the new individuals on board, future is this the right one? Seven.

Oh, I did skip number seven. Sorry about that. Human relations commissioner updates on external meetings, conferences, and committees attended. So this is the item in which you guys report out on meetings that you've already attended over the last month or will be attending starting in the next month. For this, go round robin. So I will start down with commissioner Woods.

March 25, attended Burwell Park advisory board meeting

in my Ward Ward 2.

Thank you. Commissioner Fujimoto?

Nothing to report.

Commissioner Wright?

I actually attended a conference for speech language pathologist and surprisingly I connected with another speech language pathologist who did, some research into, entitled Disability Pride Festival connecting outside the Therapy Room and she, did it here in the city of Riverside. Riverside. So I connect I exchanged numbers with her and I would love for her to come and maybe present to us and see what she found and how we as a commission could maybe connect her to other city departments to help with accessibility for individuals that have disability.

Perfect. Thank you. Mister Hamush?

Yes. Yesterday actually, attended

the meeting

with police the clergy partnership. And it was with the city manager, the police chief, and few other officials from the city hall. And we also had a very nice discussion about the situation that happened here in the city where one person passed yesterday morning. She died. And the future plan and the the city manager concern and all the projects that we have in the city, it really was wonderful meeting.

There were about 50 to 60 clergy person from from the community. And they are concerned about the situation that might come up as a result of so many things going on at this time. That's all. Thank you.

Thank you. Commissioner Gordon?

I have no updates to report, but happy to be here

and looking forward to future events. Thank you. I did not attend anything. We are still heavily in family soccer right now this month. But coming up this next coming month, they do plan on attending the commission reception on April 20.

So if you guys this is an annual event that they put on for the commissioners. If you don't have it on your calendar, I, again, strongly encourage you to participate. It's a really nice time and it's a really nice way to connect with one another outside of this space. And then on April 23, I do need to put in my that I won't be here for that meeting, but I will be working with group of young professionals and we will be getting a 2050 general plan update that's gonna focus on housing sustainability especially as it's around young professionals trying to buy homes in our community. Commissioner Mardis?

Nothing to report.

Commissioner Melendez? Pass. Commissioner Lewis?

Nothing to report.

Commissioner Aggraman? This could be any event? Anyone that you attended or is coming up? I, I plan to do the No Kings, protest tomorrow in Riverside. Alright. Thank you everyone for sharing. Now moving on to item number eight, items for future consideration for the human relations agenda. I know there was a couple items brought up today that you guys wanted to hear. This would definitely be the space to highlight those items to make sure that we get it on the list. We will also do this round robin style, but I will go the other way.

So commissioner Agremont, is there any future agenda items? No future agenda items but let me just verify it's not for tomorrow it's for Saturday. The No Kings protest. Thank you. Commissioner Lewis any future agenda items?

Yes I think I mentioned last time I wanna mention it again. Doctor. Jones I believe that was his name he came to speak to us but we did not have the numbers to have his presentation. He's from the county Riverside County School and I would love to have him come back and do his presentation. So if you can reach out to him, Stephanie, that would be great.

Commissioner Melendez?

Nothing from me. Thank you.

Commissioner Martis?

You probably captured this, but the ad hoc review of what ad hocs we have and which ones we should add, if any. And then I was thinking in light of the what we discussed earlier that we should look at the work plan again to see if we should

add hocs.

Okay. Thank you. I would like to also bring a general report out on the 2050 general plan. Think that would be really great for this commission. To me personally, I think that would align nicely with our work plan too if we can try to have those conversations at the same time. Thank you. Commissioner Okay. Thank you. Commissioner Gordon? Amish?

No. I don't have any issues.

Commissioner Raya? Nothing. Commissioner Fujimoto?

Well, in line with what commissioner was, we also had the police chief here and may we invite him back because we also that was the same time we didn't have a quorum. And I'm curious as to the grant people. I mean, we've awarded them and so are we gonna get any kind of update? Yeah. I mean, you know, as far as will they come and talk to us or anything?

I think we have a different update, but we'll I think that'll be the next item.

Okay.

Commissioner Woods?

I concur. I would like to see those presenters come back, the chief and Doctor. Jones. But, I would like to also make sure that we have quorum. I do not I was so uncomfortable sitting here with both of those presenters taking their time and we didn't have enough members. So, if at all possible, I would love to see both of them those presentations be made. But, I would definitely like to see that we don't waste those presenters time. And if they can be given prior notice if we do not have enough members here. Because it's really terrible looking out at people here to present to us and we're not enough to have them do that. Thank you.

I appreciate that. Thank you, Commissioner Woods. Alright.

Could I just get clarification in terms of the chief? What type of presentation would you all like to receive?

I think he was coming to present on immigration matters in the community. Again, correct me if I'm wrong but I think it was a report out on what he's seeing as far as in the community. He also does an annual report with us on like use of force statistics talking about recruitment in the department and like diversity amongst that recruitment.

Thank you.

Commissioner Lewis? Usually in that report he brings statistics so that we can look at. So it's not just him talking, it's him showing the data and that's what we're very much interested in.

Thank you, Commissioner. Mhmm.

Alright. Moving on to our final item, human relations commission staff updates.

At Tuesday's council meeting, the council members voted to return the item back to HRC regarding the community support grant, the recommendation that you all made to award the three organizations the $1,000. So the recommendation from city council was to return the item back to the Human Relations Commission and request that a metric be added to establish a track record to ensure that HRC is prioritizing Riverside nonprofit organizations or that there is a rubric that justifies awarding and selecting organizations outside the the Riverside area. So what I'm gonna do is, ultimately, city council did not approve awarding the three organizations just yet that were, originally selected. So what I'm gonna do is email all the commissioners here in our chair and vice chair, and I'm gonna include this language in that email along with the other information that I promised that I would send as well. And I'm gonna send there is a rubric that one of the ad hoc committees actually created.

So what they're requesting are basically two items. One, that the rubric rubric be added to include a metric where Riverside based organizations are prioritized, and two, if somebody's if a non profit organization is gonna be selected outside of city limits, that there is a justification criteria for why they were selected. Once those are completed and, again, the applications are then again reviewed, if you all can submit those back to me then I will be returning that item over to counsel for further review.

And so I just wanna clarify we need to fill out one rubric for every application and have that returned?

Each each voting commissioner will have to submit their own rubrics.

Okay. Yes. And it's one rubric per applicant? Yes. Correct. Yeah. Commissioner Woods?

What was submitted? The three that were submitted, were they all three not within the jurisdiction or the limits of Riverside or just specific one?

Yes. Thank you for the clarification question. I appreciate that, commissioner Woods. So basically, we have 16 applicants. Of those 16 nonprofit organizations, the three that were selected, all three actually are outside of the city of Riverside. One was based out of Sacramento, the other one was Harupa Valley, and the third one was Moreno Valley. And those three listed their addresses on the applications that were submitted and those were the cities that they listed.

Thank you. Commissioner Agameman? I may have been absent that day when that voting happened. What day that happened? It was in the last meeting.

Commissioner Fujimoto? Remember the meeting. Your mic.

I remember the meeting and when we voted we were or I was in the impression that only one of them was out of the area. So how what happened that we thought the other two were in Riverside?

It's interesting because I said the same thing. So I think part of that is I think we do need to go back and kinda go through that because that was my recollection as well because we were very intentional as a commission as trying to select Riverside based organizations and there was quite a discussion around one being out of the city. But when we get the data we'll be able to go and review and kind of see what happened there. Commissioner Melendez?

Thank you Madam Chair. How did we advertise this? Did we say that it had to be a Riverside nonprofit or did we leave it open?

Great question. So I actually looked into this and it was advertised in three different outlets. One of them was word-of-mouth. It's my understanding that several of you went out to different special events and kind of you know, spoke to your resources and and redirected them over to the city clerk's website. So that was outlet number two.

There was a flyer that was created, and and that flyer was, posted over on the city clerk's website under the human relations commission tab. And, it looks like there were 605 visitors that ultimately went onto that flyer. Of those 605 visitors, 16 applicants actually, again, submitted an application. The third outlet was it was the flyer was posted on the city's Facebook page which has over 80,000 followers.

But did the flyer say must be a Riverside based nonprofit?

So that was not a criteria. The criteria is actually that the work must be done in the city of Riverside.

Thank you. Commissioner Lewis.

Well first of all, I think we all did not know that all three of the organizations were not in Riverside because to me that's important that we have nonprofits here to, support the work that they're doing, in the city of Riverside. But the other thing is, since this is an important thing, think I in the applications we probably need to have going back to what Nancy is saying that we should have a statement so it's clear to people that we're looking for nonprofits and there's a lot of them. I'm one of them, you know. Of course, I would never apply to this conflict of interest. But so people would know that we're looking for nonprofits in the area, the city of Riverside.

Because the other one we were justifying because it was the church and the church pretty much did things in Riverside and had residents. So we I I think we could rationale. I think at that time, that's what we were doing, right, giving a rationale of that. Now getting back to what they're requesting now, I'm not quite sure and this is where my question come in. Do they have a sample of what they're looking for? This is could you explain that more?

Understanding. Yeah. Absolutely. So city council also wants to similar they have the same sentiment as you do as well, commissioner Lewis. They want to make sure that, you know, we are prioritizing non profits here in the city of Riverside and it's very important that that is highlighted as one of the guidelines and criteria because I think that is the intention of the HRC, right?

And, so I think the confusion really was that in reviewing the applications, two of the other organizations, which I think those are probably the two that I believe you, are the ones that think they're based out of, the city of Riverside, but it's because they're performing some of the work here in Riverside. However, their address, they're not necessarily based here. So they were based over in Sacramento in Harupa Valley. I believe that's where the confusion may be stemming from. The church, you are correct.

That's the one that is based out of Moreno Valley. So, there is no language per se that council recommended. The recommendation is that it gets brought back the item gets brought back over to the HRC, and ultimately, they're just requesting that the commissioners gather together and add a metric that prioritizes, right, that prioritize prioritizes organizations here in the city of Riverside because they also know that that really is the intention of the HRC to prioritize local organizations.

Commissioner Amardis?

I think we started a grant ad hoc. So could we have the ad hoc review the applications to help with figuring out who's based in Riverside to try to whittle it down a little bit.

We'll look back at the notes too to see who's on the ad hoc to see if we can get a meeting set up before our next meeting. Commissioner Woods?

Okay. Well, what what I'm hearing, if we go back and reconsider at this time and we take out those that are not in this city specifically, will we not be subject to something coming back on us from these others? Because it was not stated to them that, you know, beforehand that they could not apply for this grant. It wasn't made implicit in any way that they could not be found eligible to the grant. So my concern is that coming back in a negative away on us.

We having to reconsider and select three new perhaps specifically based in Riverside nonprofits. Could that could that be something that we would have to consider? Should we just not give one this year at all and then restart next year? I'm just I'm ask just posing a question.

Sure.

Someone touched the mic.

That would be up to the discretion of the commissioners. What I can do as staff is add this item back onto I believe the April 23 meeting and as a discussion item And you as commissioners can choose whether to vote to select based on the new metric, the new rubric that you all create. Select to vote for, you know, whoever you deem fit or choose to vote for the alternative which is what commissioner suggested to bypass this year altogether. That would be the commission's discretion.

Yeah. I I do. I come from the public purchasing world. Right? So it's slightly different but still held to a lot of the same criteria where if we don't tell someone that they're gonna be held to a metric and hold it to them later, we as an organization could face, like, serious sanctions.

So I think that's two where part of that questions coming in. Can we go back and add a metric that these applicants were never told and then hold them to that? So I think we should also I think this item has to come back regardless, but I think that we should also look into that because I wanna make sure that we're being very careful in that same way, not setting ourselves up to then hurt ourselves in the future. I also wanted to question because Crystal was very concerned about timeline, and she thought that we weren't gonna be able to get this done in time to get the appropriate funding for it as well. So if we have to wait a whole another month, what does that do to impact our timeline?

In terms of timeline, I did look into our internal processes, what needs to take place in order to be able to award ultimately whoever is recommended and approved and selected. Right? And, the timeline is, just as Christelle mentioned, it was tight then. It will become tighter now. It's not impossible. It really just, becomes you know, we will work in terms of city staff as hard as it need we need to in order to make it possible. However, it's not all in our control. It's, you know, how fast and responsive is are the vendors or in this case, the organizations in turning in the the required paperwork that we need in order to process or and remit payment to them. So it's it's it's it's a twofold answer, unfortunately.

Is so if we bring this to the next commission meeting, will we have enough time?

We we could if it's completely in the control of, you know, city staff. It it's possible, but again, it just depends how responsive and communicative once the organization is selected in terms of submitting their documents needed if they aren't already processed as a city five zero one c three organization and and if there are any missing paperwork on file that can delay the process so I can't give a definitive answer.

Commissioner Lewis? As chair you need to follow what's the up there the list not to have persistent dialogue because you are chairing it and so you're people talk. Then often if you got something to say, you let the vice chair take over, and then you get in line like everybody. Because what I was feeling, was just a dialogue between you two, and that's not consistent with what I feel your role should be. And I'm speaking as a parliamentarian.

Oh. Okay. I had my name up there for several reasons. Reason number one, if you look at the sponsorship, the consistent sponsorship with the city, it's very clear that you need to be a Riverside nonprofit. This is just what they do.

And what I have seen, you know, so when we thought that we were dealing with Riverside, nonprofits and we we didn't, in my mind, that's what I was going for. If I were new, this group was in Sacramento, I would never voted for that. So we did not have the information. We did not make announcement because we could not make announcement because it has to go to city council for approval. So I think that looking at that again and looking with those lens is appropriate within, what we do.

My other thing is I would hate for that money to not be used when nonprofits are hurting and they can use that. So I just would like for us to look at how we could still be able to give the awards this year. And if we were not able to get the awards, we would be able to do something else with the money. That's my concern because that's $3,000 and I just feel that it's important that when it's not profits we'll be able to give it to them.

Commissioner Ray?

Guess along those lines, I would like to get clarification from city council as to like what the legality is because we had we did award those, those grants. So then where does that leave us? Right? So if the city council can give us some clarification as to what the legality of it all is, that would be great. And then also what commissioner Lewis said about the money. So if we don't meet those timelines what would happen to the money?

Okay. We can definitely find out just for the record. HRC made the recommendation to award the organizations themselves have yet to be awarded because ultimately council are the ones who award it.

Commissioner Melendez?

Following up on commissioner Raya's remarks, this is a public meeting. It is recorded. It is broadcast. So those organizations, if they were listening, know that they were our choices. So I think that we really need to go back to city legal and say, where are we on this matter? And ultimately, if we need to change, I think we need to change it next year in my opinion Yeah. Because as you've said, we've all heard, we didn't say it had to be Riverside only and the public meeting was broadcast and those names were mentioned. So I really feel we need to move forward and I too am in favor of awarding this year and not leaving it to stay behind.

Thank you. Commissioner Martitz.

I pulled up the flyer that was sent out and it says that the community support grant will provide up to $1,000 to eligible Riverside nonprofits and community organizations whose work aligns with the HRC's mission to advocate for equal opportunity. Down below, it also states that funded projects should occur within the Riverside City limits so it is clear on the flyer that was sent.

Thank you. Commissioner Fujimoto?

I'm just in case for some reason we can't afford we can't award this in time this year we have carried over we've asked the council to carry over till the next year the money so and they have done that for us so that's I mean that's the last resort so we don't lose it so we can just award it next year Commissioner Lewis?

Using a situation like that with budgets is hard to carry things over. And so I don't know if that's something that we can do. It clearly what she read, it clearly said that it's Riverside so we didn't do what we needed to do. And so now we need to do what we need to do. We need to make sure that we're selecting Riverside groups because it that's what they're saying and they probably did looked at the flyer.

And it's very clear on that flyer and that's what Nancy was asking. And since that's clear I think that it opens up the door for us to come back and make sure that we look at the applicants again and make sure that we're selecting groups that from Riverside nonprofits.

Commissioner Melendez?

I agree. However, again, we're in that frame again where we announce those names and discuss this publicly. But also, whose whose job is it? Is it our job or should it be staff's job to make sure that the applications that we read are appropriate? So we're we're both at fault, I I feel.

So we

need to polish that up.

I so the first year that we did this, there was another organization that was involved who did all the reviewing of the applications. Last year, I think we had a couple more months in which we got the applications before the meeting that I think led us to have more time to vet them. This one, I think we all got

the

applications the week before the meeting. So it was a very short window which is how I think too we kind of got to where we are now or the two weeks or whenever it gets sent out. Commissioner Mardis?

So I think last year we had that ad hoc committee narrow it down. So I think that helped with making sure that the organizations that were selected are Riverside organizations which I, the flyer also included those people so I think that helped.

Thank you. Commissioner Lewis?

I guess I think I'm getting my answer but I'll say it again. So moving forward, is it a clear And so, think, before we get into judging them, right? Because basically based on this, those organizations didn't qualify. Am I correct? I

think last year too we had a rubric and if you don't have that on hand, Stephanie, I'm sure I can research my own folders too to see if we do have one. I would be interested to see if that was criteria on there as well. But in the future, I would say we, as a commission should consider starting this process early and having an ad hoc be able to narrow those votes down based on that rubric criteria. Mister Woods? Oh, you gotta go? Yeah. Thank you. I think we're still good on quorum. Right? Because we got one?

Discussion, we'll move forward. Stephanie, it sounds like you'll send everyone more information by email, and then if we can connect you to see, like, what that process looks for checking legal and stuff.

Of course.

Thank you. Did you have any other staff updates?

That's it.

Okay. Well, then with that, our next meeting will be on Thursday, April 23. Thank you guys for joining us today. And with that, our meeting is adjourned at 07:02. Oh.