[Frances Nwajei]: Hi everyone, welcome to the November, 2023 meeting for the Commission of human rights. I'm, I'm Francis, I'm the director of diversity, equity and inclusion and liaison for the commission.
[MCM00001269_SPEAKER_08]: Hello. My name is Rob Klein. I'm commissioner about three years now, I believe. Uh, looking forward to today's meeting.
[Frances Nwajei]: Thank you, Rob. Send it off to someone.
[MCM00001269_SPEAKER_08]: I need, I need a popcorn to Maureen.
[MCM00001269_SPEAKER_10]: Okay. Hello, Maureen Curley. And this is my third meeting and I too am very happy to be here and look forward to our conversation.
[Unidentified]: So I'll jump in.
[MCM00001269_SPEAKER_04]: I was gonna say, okay. So I'm Diane McDonald. I've been on the commission for a year. And I'm a resident of West Medford, and I'll pop corn over to Stephanie.
[MCM00001269_SPEAKER_05]: Hey, everyone, Stephanie Cornell, similar to Maureen, this is about my third meeting, first year on the commission and first full year living in the city of Medford. Hmm. I will go to Chief Jack Buckley.
[Jack Buckley]: Hi everyone, Chief Jack Buckley, Medford PD, five years on the commission, so welcome everyone.
[Frances Nwajei]: Thank you so much, everyone. So before we move forward, the next thing on the agenda are the meeting touchstones, which we all agreed that we would take turns reading the touchstones out at the beginning of each meeting. So does anybody want to volunteer to do the first round?
[MCM00001269_SPEAKER_05]: I can start. Thank you, Steph. Be present and presume welcome and extend welcome. Order of meeting is the commission meets to discuss the agenda first. At conclusion of meeting agenda, members of the public are invited to share comments. Raise your hand before speaking and avoid interrupting others. speak for yourself and speak your truth in ways that respect others' truths, acknowledge others' lived experience to promote human dignity, listen deeply, believe that it is possible to emerge refreshed, surprised, and less burdened, expect and accept a lack of closure when things get difficult, turn to wonder.
[Frances Nwajei]: Thank you so much staff for that. So on the agenda for all business, someone would need to, one of the commissioners would need to make a motion to approve October meeting minutes pending that there are no edits required and another commissioner would need to second. Motion to approve.
[MCM00001269_SPEAKER_10]: Then I will second.
[Frances Nwajei]: Okay, who made the motion to approve?
[MCM00001269_SPEAKER_04]: I did, Diane.
[Frances Nwajei]: Okay, and you seconded Maureen. All right, thank you very much. And everybody accepts?
[Frances Nwajei]: Right, on to the really exciting Peace. Last meeting, well two meetings ago we said that we were going to do something for International Human Rights Day and last meeting Maureen was not even in the country and we took her up on her offer and in the meantime as Maureen was returning Stephanie was also heading out, but I don't know, somehow this miraculous team of Maureen, Stephanie, Rob and Diane managed to put together this wonderful acknowledgement. And I wanted to know if everybody, oh, thank you Medford Community Media. I wanted to know if everybody has had a chance to see it. And if everyone is satisfied with it, because if so, I would like to get it to the different places that we discussed, which was the city. I mean, the senior center has to be there by the 13th, so that it can make it into their newsletter, their December newsletter, and then start getting it to city council. Anybody have any changes, any thoughts? Would you like me to put it up on the screen? I can screen share, Diane, you've got your hands up.
[MCM00001269_SPEAKER_04]: Yes, I only have one tiny edit and I apologize for missing it. It's just changing the closing from respectively to respectfully. Respectfully, okay. And that's it.
[Frances Nwajei]: All right. I can do that because Maureen emailed me the Word document, so I can make that change for us and then put it back on our letterhead. Thank you. Everybody satisfied with it? Go ahead, Rob. I just said no, no, no reservations here. Okay, so what needs to happen for it to be accepted is somebody will need to like make a motion to accept the statement in support of International Human Rights Day pending the edit of respectively to respectfully and then somebody else will need to second.
[MCM00001269_SPEAKER_05]: I will make the motion to accept the first statement of the International Human Rights Day with the understanding that there is an edit that needs to take place.
[Frances Nwajei]: Seconded. Thank you, Rob. Thank you, Stephanie. Anyone opposed? No, good. All right, I will make that change this evening, and then I will make sure that everybody gets the new document before I walk it down to the city clerk's office. I will also send it to Pam over at the senior center, and I will start to figure out the actual avenue to get it on the December agenda. for City Council. I know that we had talked about a variety, a couple of different things. If commissioners want to be present at the meeting that this comes up on the agenda for, I think that that would be great. Do commissioners want to read this at the City Council meeting? I think that that's something that needs to be that needs to be decided?
[MCM00001269_SPEAKER_10]: I think it would be nice if someone from the council, either that or we talked about whether a city councillor would want to read it. You mentioned that before. Yeah. So I think either one would be appropriate. If we could get a city council person to do it, I think that would be great. If they know about it, they may in fact want to do a resolution themselves. Wonderful.
[Frances Nwajei]: So when I send it off, I will make sure that I include that as an option. And when we know, when we know the dates, you know, I will share that date with you. And I think it would be nice if people are available to be present for the reading of that. I think that that would be both impactful and powerful. And I forgot to add, I will also share this with the Massachusetts Human Rights Coalition. They're further down on our agenda for tonight. All right, so I get to stop talking now and I get to turn it over to Diane as we're at the calendar review and planning segment.
[MCM00001269_SPEAKER_04]: Okay, great. So I'm gonna share my screen. And okay, so this is the calendar we've been reviewing together. Can everyone see it? Perfect. So let's see. So a couple things on for November. Probably disregard the city council meeting if we're aiming for December. but there's a winter extravaganza at City Hall at the end of the month. I know I've taken my kids to that in the past. It's a lot of fun, but maybe there's another opportunity to recruit people, although I know it's a very busy, festive event. So because it's November now, it would be really great for us to start thinking ahead and deciding on whether we're going to try to do something in honor of MLK Day in January, and then also in February for Black History Month. I know that for Black History Month last year, we did the public reading of Belinda's petition at Royal House and Slave Quarters, which I thought was very, very successful. And if we were to think about doing that again. Francis, you have my guarantee it'll be totally different, you know, we'll be much more nimble and independent. But I think it'd be a great opportunity, especially because I've attended a lot of events, you know, since the summer. And the turnout with advanced planning and like last year, with Catherine Clark and the mayor and city councilors is just tremendous. And back in September, I received an email, I'm on Catherine Clark's email list, and she visited Royal House for the first time. So I'm going to pop open, that her email that she had sent out. Can you see that now? Wait a minute, this is the Royal House newsletter and I can share that with you. Here is Catherine Clark's email that she sent out and the title was Voting Rights in Medford's Royal House and this was back in September. I think what was really special because you think about Belinda's petition that really speaks to human rights and dignity and civil rights. Catherine Clark really correlated this to the work of John Lewis, may he rest in peace. And there she is in the kitchen chamber. And then when Royal House sent out their newsletter, You know, she highlighted Catherine Clark's visit as well as rep Christine Barber's visit as well. And I know that for the 4th of July, Royal House also hosted a public reading of Frederick Douglass' speech. And our mayor, who was elected for another term, attended that. I would just love to get everyone's thoughts on potentially doing, you know, supporting the annual reading of Belinda's petition in February for Black History Month, as well as, all right, and then, you know, think about January, and then possibly, you know, February could be very busy. Lunar New Year is February 10th, and that's a Saturday. Any thoughts?
[MCM00001269_SPEAKER_08]: I think the reading of the petition was an outstanding event and happy to support doing that again. I think that the turnout was outstanding. It was a great way to bring together a number of different organizations from within the community, the folks from Tufts there, a whole bunch of different organizations that were able to take part. And if I'm remembering correctly, there were even some inter-organizational conflicts last year. So if we can avoid any of that, I dare say we would expect even a greater turnout this year if we replicated the event?
[MCM00001269_SPEAKER_04]: That sounds great, Rob. And yes, I would immediately start coordinating with West Medford Community Center to make sure that... I know that they hosted two events last year, the Entrepreneurs' Event and the... I know I went to both of them and I'm spacing out on the two of them, but I just wanna make sure that you know, our calendars coincide.
[SPEAKER_06]: Good evening.
[Frances Nwajei]: Good evening. Could you just wait until we're through? We're going to come back and do introductions again.
[SPEAKER_06]: Okay. My name is Bishwa Mainali.
[Frances Nwajei]: Welcome. Thank you, Bishwa. Rob, I think that you're right. I remember, if I'm not mistaken, I remember that it was standing room only, because I actually stood on the, I actually stayed in like the welcome area. I don't think that there were enough chairs, or there was any more space. And for an event that the commission pulled together, what was it, in three weeks, I think it was, I think that that was huge. I do recall a couple of attendees were not even from Lethbridge. There was a vocalist who was just, who was attending, but she was from Lexington. And she, and I actually took her card. And she just so happened to, I don't know, be doing something that brought her to our website and she saw this was happening. So, you know, I think that it's a place that people enjoy going to and connecting with the history and expanding themselves. So I would definitely be willing to support in whatever way is needed. Diane, I think, as usual, we'd need to check in with Kira to make sure that she, you know, has the bandwidth for it because it's sort of in the off-season. Right. Need to like tag team, I'd need to make sure like S-factor was available. If we're thinking about, you know, because we have more lead time. And we know that Democratic whip Catherine Clark attended with Rep. Barber, you know, we might want to think about, you know, sending those invitations out as soon as possible.
[MCM00001269_SPEAKER_04]: Absolutely.
[Frances Nwajei]: But however you, you know, whatever support the commission needs for me to lift this off, I'm there and hopefully it won't snow this year.
[MCM00001269_SPEAKER_10]: I think it's a great year. I definitely think we should do it. I think I had a brief conversation with Kiera about it just because she thought it was so good last year. So I think she's very much open to it. And we can also do it, send it out in the newsletter from the Royal House as well, which I think cover a lot of the elected officials as well who received that. So that would be, I think it's a great event. Okay.
[MCM00001269_SPEAKER_04]: That sounds wonderful. If I could only just go a little high in the sky, because I know that, you know, at that Haitian flag raising event, it was so wonderful to see Senator Clark and Mayor Brianna, you know, just give some brief remarks. I think it'd be powerful if we could get them to give some remarks. You know, we could talk to Kara too, but what does everyone think about that, you know, just because just knowing what's happened with activity in the last year. I think that maybe it's possible, they would say yes.
[Unidentified]: Yeah, yeah.
[Frances Nwajei]: Yeah. So hold on, we've got we had three of us talking. So I think Maureen and Rob and that's my big head that's moving around.
[MCM00001269_SPEAKER_10]: So I don't care. Maureen, then Rob. I was just gonna say, I think too, that there are city council people we should think I think about who we really would like to have speak and we could have certainly have more than one as long as they keep it short, which people always don't. But I think we could set it up so that it would be very, very helpful if people came. But there's also other members, probably even of the board of the Royal House, that would be good to also speak.
[Frances Nwajei]: So it sounds like if we're already talking about speaking, I get the sense the commission has decided that this is what we're doing for Black History Month. Rob, I'm popcorning over to you.
[MCM00001269_SPEAKER_08]: Yeah, certainly left with the same sentiment. I was just commenting that we had such a great event last year, it would be a shame to let that momentum go to waste. I think it's a much more compelling case to be made to some of the speakers, especially those in local politics, where it's not asking to come and take part of this event we're setting up for the first time, but maybe allowing them to take part in an event that we know has already been successful. or inviting rather.
[Frances Nwajei]: All right, fantastic. So right now, I don't know what the West Medford Community Center has planned, but I'm supporting an event that they have next week, Thursday, and I'll have an opportunity to really chat with Lisa. I'm looking at the February 2024 calendar, Last year, our event was on a Saturday. Did that work for, I guess, Rob and Diane? Yes. It worked well for me. OK. How about you, Rob?
[MCM00001269_SPEAKER_08]: Yep. Saturdays are great.
[Frances Nwajei]: And if I'm not mistaken, we didn't do it in the morning morning. We did it at like, didn't we do like a one to three?
[MCM00001269_SPEAKER_04]: I think it was maybe 11 o'clock. I don't remember anymore. Yeah, maybe it was, yeah, either, yeah, probably one to three. I can't, I can find, I can find the, I can find the run of show that I put together and I'm happy to kind of drive a lot of this as you know, with outreach to Kiara and doing most of the coordination and Francis in all seriousness, like we're happy to delegate a lot of the, A lot of the work and and I remember you having to do the shopping and showing up with that, you know, like where we've got you know many hands make light work so because nobody.
[Frances Nwajei]: give some num-nums to our guests. You know, we can't have an event without at least a bottle of water being offered. So I was like, you know what, I'm just going to take care of this part, but everybody was great in helping to like bring the stuff indoors. And Greb Cafe was fantastic in putting together like little bite-sized pieces. So looking at the calendar, Saturday the 3rd, Saturday the 10th, Saturday the 17th, and Saturday the 24th. One of those is actually a public holiday. One of those days is a bank holiday. And I want to say, I think the 20, maybe the 17th would be the bank holiday, President's Day.
[MCM00001269_SPEAKER_04]: Oh, right, right. And we also need to see what Kiera's availability is too, because so many people are always going over there to do filming and all kinds of stuff. And actually you keep the calendar, Maureen, so you'll have good insight. So maybe a good starting point is checking in with Kiera and West Medford Community Center And, and then, yeah, I remember there was at first there was a little bit of a conflict when we thought that no one from West Medford Community Center, you know, including Terry Carter who we originally wanted to have read a poem, but we thought he was taking you know, big group of the community to a theater event. So I'm just happy to get ahead of it.
[Frances Nwajei]: Yeah, there was definitely some miscommunication here. The bank holidays definitely on the weekend of the 17th. Right, President's Day. So why don't we sort of do some backward chaining, you know, since you and Maureen are in connection with Ciara, can you just have a look at your calendar for the Royal House and see what dates are available in February? Yeah, that sounds great. I feel like a Saturday would be better because it will allow for families to come, I feel like the week, a week night or a weekday evening might be a bit too tight. Full agreement.
[Unidentified]: Okay.
[Frances Nwajei]: Yeah, I think that sounds good. Okay. And then what I will do is I will start the conversation with Lisa over West Medford Community Center to see what's planned. But I will also say that we would like to support whatever they do for Martin Luther King Day. Absolutely. Because I just, I don't feel like we can pivot and do both. We've always loaned our support over to them. So I'll let Lisa know that. All right. Okay, perfect.
[MCM00001269_SPEAKER_10]: Last year was terrific. Yes. I think I saw you there, Maureen. Yeah, we did. Yep. It was fantastic.
[Frances Nwajei]: I'm sorry, are we calling this a reading of Belinda's petition? Are we naming it?
[MCM00001269_SPEAKER_04]: Yeah, I, I, we can clear the title, we have to clear the title with Ciara, but my suggestion would be a public reading of Belinda's petition. I think that's lovely. I think, I think it's straightforward.
[Frances Nwajei]: I'm just, I'm just making notes so that I don't forget. All right. All right, Diane, do you want to continue with the calendar? We all just got so excited about the Black History Month.
[MCM00001269_SPEAKER_04]: So this is, I mean, so then we have February, maybe something for Lunar New Year. I did have a conversation. Does anyone have any other ideas? I don't want to be driving everything right now with other thoughts for, you know, January or February.
[MCM00001269_SPEAKER_10]: I'd love to go back to January to the possibility of doing some kind of service sometime that month. And I'd be happy to help figure out what options might be. It's not always easy, but we could do some investigation and see. Would people be interested in doing service?
[MCM00001269_SPEAKER_04]: I would love that. It's always been my dream. And I always took my kids to Cambridge for service activities in honor of MLK Day or during the month of January. So if we could even have a soft start in Medford, I'm all in.
[Frances Nwajei]: Do you would you consider something like you want me to reach out to the interfaith group? I know that they put a lot of food together in boxes as part of an outreach program. Do you want me to find out if they have anything going on? What other options do we have for within the Medford community?
[MCM00001269_SPEAKER_10]: Well, I think that's sort of part of the research we might want to do. I can think of a few ideas of places, but I don't know what they have available. So if we all could do some digging around, maybe we could surface a few opportunities.
[Frances Nwajei]: OK. And does that mean that we would come to the December meeting with those opportunities and then have enough time to do something right afterwards, which would be in January?
[MCM00001269_SPEAKER_04]: Okay. Or should we give ourselves a deadline for, I don't know, maybe, you know, well, I know Thanksgiving is coming up or by the end of the month and then maybe you can be a clearing house for some of these opportunities and you can distribute it, distribute them to everyone in advance.
[Frances Nwajei]: Yeah, share a running list. I don't mind doing that. I mean, it's just the same way that I share information that comes along. I can do that.
[MCM00001269_SPEAKER_10]: So are we looking for a volunteer opportunity actually on MLK Day, which is Monday the 15th? That is traditionally when the service is done. Or are we just looking at any time that month?
[Frances Nwajei]: I think we have to be careful because doesn't West Medford do their event on MLK Day itself?
[MCM00001269_SPEAKER_04]: Yeah, they do. I think we can frame it. We let's see what opportunities are available and then we can we can play with the framing. You know, we can we can send out communications saying in honor of MLK Day, you know, which is historically a national day of service, we are, you know, we will be spending, you know, if there are a few things, we'll say we are designating January as a month of service in honor of MLK Day or something. We can play with the language.
[Frances Nwajei]: Okay, so I just want to make sure I understand my task is not only looking at opportunities, but folks will send opportunities to me. And you said by Thanksgiving, by the end of the month, do you mean by the end of the month, Diane? I would just make sure that I get a list out to everyone.
[MCM00001269_SPEAKER_04]: Yeah, I would say let's aim for by November 30th to be realistic, because everybody unplugs around Thanksgiving.
[MCM00001269_SPEAKER_10]: Now, do we have any idea about how many people we want to participate? Because one of the challenges for nonprofits is they don't have the capacity to host a lot of people. Are we thinking of us and our immediate friends? Are we saying 20 people? Are we saying 50 people? Are we saying just us? That makes a big difference, I think, to the nonprofit.
[MCM00001269_SPEAKER_04]: I think it should be an opportunity that the entire city could participate in, and I think it You know, maybe it could be as simple as, you know, a winter clothing drive or a food drive. You know, for elder services, I've always thought it'd be nice to, you know, like make Valentine's Day to give to everyone in February to just perk up everybody's day, you know, and something that, and maybe reserve you know, a room for arts and crafts in the library for, you know, we can help set up materials or I don't know, but maybe, you know, I've taken a lot of information at events I've been to in this city too. So I, and I, you know, I'm going to go through them because I feel as if we've met a lot of people that we might be able to tap into. I know it sounds vague, Frances.
[Frances Nwajei]: It's you know in the beginning right in the planning it's always vague I mean isn't didn't the rap song started by saying it was all a dream. It's always just a dream, but look at how it all ends up coming together so beautifully, right? Two meetings ago we were talking about, gee, you know, what should we do? Should we do something for International Human Rights Day? And here we are, we have an official acknowledgement on our letterhead. I don't know, that makes me feel really good. uh yeah so just it just sounds vague right now i know that we'll definitely come up with um right come up come up with things you know we'll all get off this meeting and be like oh yeah there's this and this and this so it'll come it will come together you know and if and space for me i space is never and you know space is never a concern because If it means that we have to pivot and we need a bigger space to be in that we can always use the city hall space. And then, you know, we can, and then if it's about, oh, we're going to somebody else's location, but they can only accommodate X number of people, then we can break up the tasks. You know, maybe Francis's team loads the cars up, right? And then somebody else's, you know, team meet and, you know, empty out the cars. We can break it up so that people feel that they have participated in bringing whatever we decide to fruition.
[MCM00001269_SPEAKER_04]: Okay, that sounds amazing.
[Frances Nwajei]: So Diane, I just wanted to go back to Lunar New Year, the year of the dragon. It's extremely important and I, you know, I wanted to have the conversation to find out from you, because you have shared before your heritage, what you feel the best approach would be. Right.
[MCM00001269_SPEAKER_04]: So, yeah. So I have not yet come up with a concrete idea for this. But when I was at the Hispanic Heritage event, I got to talk to City Councilor Justin Tsang, and he's Taiwanese as well. And I, you know, and I did say to him, I said, you know, we might be batting around an idea for doing something for Lunar New Year. And he said that a lot of Chinese and Taiwanese cultural associations have been in touch with him. So I was going to, and now that we know the results, he's been reelected as well. I was going to reach out to him to see if he can give us some contacts and think through some ideas. I think I'm, you know, With Belinda's petition reading, I just wanna just be careful of what kind of lift this will be. But maybe I can have a conversation with him and then maybe I'll update you, Francis. And if there's anything concrete there, then you can share it with everyone.
[Frances Nwajei]: Yeah, when you have a conversation, I mean, if you're able to have the conversation before the December meeting, we can just put it on the agenda. It can go under either as new business or it can go as part of correspondence.
[MCM00001269_SPEAKER_04]: Okay, perfect. And then I was even thinking of Again, the public library is such a tremendous resource, and I know the children's room librarians, so I was just going to go and come up with some ideas for her. Maybe with her, perhaps there's a family-friendly idea we can come up with. So it's on my mind. So stay tuned.
[MCM00001269_SPEAKER_10]: This opportunity might be really good for people, for something for us to co-sponsor and give really the lead to a organization that serves Asian-Americans. I mean, that's one. And we could certainly be like a co-sponsor or a collaborator. And that way we could sort of give highlight to them as well as get to know them for the future. I love that idea.
[Frances Nwajei]: I definitely like all these ideas. I think that they're all going in the, you know, in the direction that they need to go. The library is going to be such a great resource. They're always ahead. I think Barbara and Sam make sure those calendars get done like 10 years in advance. But if, you know, one thing I do know about the library is that if you approach Barbara and Sam with something and they feel that they can find some space in which to get it done and get it done right, they'll, you know, they will always step up to the plate. I wouldn't be surprised if the youth librarian hasn't, you know, already got something planned and I would, you know, I would love to do something actually that involves and speaks more to like younger children. Much of what we do with Method does not always seem to bring in that you know, youthful splash in the puddle without care lens. So who knows, maybe this might be one of those revert back to your childhood type of activities.
[MCM00001269_SPEAKER_04]: Right, I love it, especially because, you know, with the lion dance and everything and the gongs and it's just, it's such a festive time and very family friendly.
[Frances Nwajei]: So looking forward to see, you know, to seeing what comes, you know, what comes out of this and all the conversations and the contacts that Justin has. And, you know, like Maureen said, I mean, if we, you know, even if it's a collaboration with an Asian American cultural group or another group, that would be, you know, that would be phenomenal because it would be a first of its kind.
[MCM00001269_SPEAKER_04]: Oh, that would be great. All right.
[Frances Nwajei]: representing a demographic that is here in Medford.
[MCM00001269_SPEAKER_04]: Right, right. Okay, love it. Stay tuned. Any other thoughts on January and February, everyone?
[Frances Nwajei]: Chief, I have a quick question for you.
[Unidentified]: Yes, thank you.
[Frances Nwajei]: Why do I feel like the Community Engagement Unit does like service related things throughout the year?
[Jack Buckley]: We do. There's several of them going on. We're currently doing a code drive. We have a food drive coming up. There's another Boyd Drive coming up in December. There's something else I'm missing. We are pretty much monthly now and doing a number of these engagements as well as attending other ones, other community events.
[Frances Nwajei]: So I'm wondering if I should reach out to Captain Benoit, Captain Clemente and Captain Gavino.
[Jack Buckley]: Yeah, the convener would be the perfect person to reach out to. Yeah, I can kind of talk to him.
[Frances Nwajei]: All right. Okay.
[Jack Buckley]: So Diane... Or myself, you can always call me.
[Frances Nwajei]: Well, I mean, I guess what we really would love to find out is if you have something planned already for January, you know, like some sort of service-related
[Jack Buckley]: So it's generally every month, I just can't tell you right now what January would be, and it may, I mean, we're entering, you know, this is the busy season for a lot of us, and so we've got a number of things already lined up, and it might just be that we're gonna get through this and start planning as we go through, but I could find out, check in with you.
[Frances Nwajei]: That'll be fantastic, and then you can let Diane know, and we'll bring everything to the big table.
[MCM00001269_SPEAKER_10]: I love that. I love that idea because it really does help us to, I think, increase our visibility by partnering with other people that have different and particularly since we're so new at doing this and we're We're enthusiastically adding a number of things and all of those things are gonna, I think they're gonna mount up. So I would think something like a coat drive or something like that would be very, everybody could participate, as you said, it's just not one day. They could do it throughout the month or whatever. So if something like that was going on with the police, that'd be awesome. We could get more business and volunteer with you.
[Jack Buckley]: Yeah, and then I mean and so the code drives ongoing now but it's, we're going to need, you know, sadly I think we need a lot more than we're going to gather. So we can we can extend those sort of things but there's also blood drives that we were hosting them pretty regularly now and all those events so and that's this apparently I get three texts a day from the American Red Cross. So there is a very strong need for blood. Those are the things that we can all put together and make it a community event. That's what the whole idea is. It's not the police. It's the police department involved in the community. So 100%.
[Frances Nwajei]: I mean, and that's the beauty of this, right? It's the Human Rights Commission and the City of Medford's Police Department. When you talk about community, it's so important to show all the different arms and all the different lenses of the community in the ways in which we partner together. I feel that there are so many great things that happen in this community, but there's some disjointedness. But if you actually look at the city calendar, which does not even have up to 70% of all the events that happen in the city of Medford, if you just take a look at what goes on for one month that we know of that we put on the calendar, it's amazing. It's absolutely incredible. And, you know, I would love to get to a place where it can, you know, where it can all be synced and it can all flow and everybody knows what's happening when and where. And I think that we can get there. But this type of collaboration is so important. It's important for visibility and it's important for normalizing, you know, certain branches as being a part of the community. So, yeah. You'll find out, Chief Buckley, you'll let Diane know. Great.
[Jack Buckley]: Thank you, Chief. I'll also put you in touch with, well, coordinators, but Officer Walsh is also pretty much doing a lot of the social media and calendar events. So you should have that contact with her anyway to kind of coordinate this.
[Frances Nwajei]: So I'll stay out of it because I love to say, okay, I'll do, I'll do, I'll do. And then I'm like, oh my gosh, I can't breathe. There's too much stuff happening. So I'm learning how to stay out. So this is great. So Diane, we're just looking at January and February, right? We're not ready to go into March. That's kind of like very far away. Right.
[MCM00001269_SPEAKER_04]: I mean, next month, we can think about March. I think if we're going to plan an event, you should have a two to three month lead time. So just start marinating on March and April. But I think we have plenty to think about right now for January and February. So thank you, everyone.
[Frances Nwajei]: Oh, it's me again. Last meeting, there was a question about broken windows at the ICCM. I just wanted to make sure that everybody was aware that I checked in with them. And the reason that the windows were broken and that there was tarp on some of them is because they were actually being remodeled or they were being redone. So it was not a result of any sort of nefarious act. It was just part of work that was being done, which I think it's good to hear. New business. Very excited to share that I spoke with, well, I spoke with Adam LaFrance, I think it was two weeks ago now, of the Massachusetts Human Rights Coalition. We had such a great conversation. The downside is the day after I spoke with him, we had our situation that occurred here in the city of Medford, but it was, It was wonderful to find out that the city of Medford is actually one of the leading and original founding members of the Massachusetts Human Rights Coalition. I found out that Diane McLeod, who is like two people before me, was the person that put this put this together with a group of people, a group of other human rights activists or interested parties. So Adam added me to the Google group, extended an invite to the meetings that they have on a monthly basis. I, in turn, offered the opportunity for him to join us because I would really like him to speak directly and share directly with the commissioners and not necessarily through me. But if it is all right with you, I would like to share your email address so that you can be a part of that Google group. A lot of wonderful information. I mean, sometimes you look at it and you're like, oh my gosh, why aren't we doing this? And then you realize that, you know what, we can get there. But when something happens in one neighborhood and you see all the support that comes through from all the other groups, it's very empowering. So if there are no objections, I would love to be able to share your email address so that you can be added to the Google group as well. And if you're all right, I will, okay, I see the thumbs up. Diane, you all right with that? Perfect, sounds great. Wonderful. And then what I will also do is send an official invite so that Adam can actually speak more about, you know, the coalition, the meetings that they have and how they, you know, how they support different communities. Hey. It's me again. I really didn't plan this agenda well. So we're moving on. Oh, so we're moving on to correspondence if nobody has any questions about the coalition, human rights coalition. Charter study committee, I keep pushing this. I am not a member of the charter committee. I am the city liaison to the committee. So I end up attending meetings and I end up reviewing information that's going to go out. To me, the charter has become sort of like it's a mini constitution for the city of Medford. And I feel that it's extremely important that people who reside in this community have an opportunity to share and express where they feel that they may want changes and just to, you know, have their voice heard. Thank you. Thank you, Diane, for posting the link. So that is why I bring it up because I do not want to get to a stage where information has been collected from surveys that have been done, and the commission starts working based on the information that's been gathered. And then there's a group of people who never had a chance to express, join a meeting, attend a listening session. So that's why I bring it up. The surveys are available online, city website, Charter Study Commission, They are available in the languages that the city translates into, which is Haitian Creole, Arabic, Spanish, Brazilian, Portuguese. There is a glossary that is a wonderful, simplified breakdown of what the terms mean, terminology. It is done according to plain language. ran a lot of that through the app. So we got it as close to sixth grade as possible, which is the recommended reading level when you are sending information out. In addition to that, there is a one-page flyer that really just talks about the charter, the Charter Study Commission. Meetings are once a month. They're done by Zoom, the first Thursday of the month, 6.30 to 8.30. They have been two public meetings, meaning public sessions. They both actually happened here at City Hall, one in June and one in October, and they were hybrid. So people could also participate via Zoom and ask questions. The committee so far has broken down into numerous subcommittee groups and has presented a lot of information based on interviews that they have done, meeting people in other parts, research that has been done. So it's important to remember that it's not a committee member's role to say this is how, you know, the city of Medford is going to run. They're the ones that are doing the groundwork in partnership with the Collins Center to look at all the different types of, you know, government and then narrow that down into a description that we can give to residents and say these are the different types of governments that are available, which would you like, essentially, and they're using different tools. The survey closes on December 1, so if you've not had a chance to do the survey, please take a look at it. In addition to that, listening sessions start today. So listening sessions are just, you know, one hour sessions that hone in on where they are at this point. because they've done research in terms of going back nine election cycles, which I think is 18 years, if I'm not mistaken, and looked at different things, like have there been wards that were not represented? So it is stuff that people have really dedicated their time to. And if you want to find out more information, you can join a listening session. Well, you can't, because you're here with me tonight, but there's a listening session at 7 p.m. at the library. There are three listening sessions on Tuesday, October 14th. The first one is at 10 a.m. at Tamponi Housing Development. The second one is at noon at the Firefighters Club on Salem Street. And the third one is at 2.30 p.m. at the Senior Center. There is also a listening session on Thursday the 16th, and that is at the Willis Family Development Center. That will be at 6 p.m. And on Thursday the 29th at 9 a.m. there will be a listening session at the Medford Chamber of Commerce. So the listening sessions will be led by a variety of different committee members. I will be hosting a virtual one on behalf of the commission in December. I just need to work around ASL interpreter availability. and then I will release that date and time. So there will be a listening session that way as well. So that is my spiel on behalf of the Charter Study Commission. Does anyone have any questions? Okay.
[SPEAKER_06]: Okay.
[Frances Nwajei]: All right. And The Commission for persons with disabilities, hosting a mobile COVID and flu vaccine clinic here at City Hall on November 17, Friday, November 17. 3pm to 7pm. So I'll be here, there'll be another opportunity to do some recruitment if you're interested in joining me. This was the clinic that was supposed to occur at the disability fair, but unfortunately the vaccines had not yet been released. So this is actually a gift from the Massachusetts Developmental Disabilities Council and their partnership with DPH and Cataldo Ambulance Services.
[Unidentified]: All right, I have nothing else.
[SPEAKER_06]: We'll get the information by email. The information for the vaccine clinic? 17 November meeting.
[Frances Nwajei]: Yes. Would you like me to email it to you? Yes. Okay, what you can do is if you would like, can you type your email address into the chat?
[SPEAKER_06]: Okay.
[Frances Nwajei]: For me, and then I will make sure I email you because I can email the link and the QR code so that you can scan it and sign it.
[SPEAKER_06]: I want to see you personally sometime in our office. Is it possible?
[Frances Nwajei]: Um, it is, but I think that we can talk about that offline aside from the meeting, if that's okay. Okay. Yeah. We can. Yeah. Let's go, let's go through this first and maybe you and I can talk tomorrow or something and we can set up a time. Okay. Okay. Oh, and I forgot to add that. My number is listed because there are people who aren't comfortable going through the sign up link. So they call me and give me the information and I sign them up. So I'm available as a resource to help sign people up for the vaccines and stuff. Okay. Anybody have anything else to add? Or Maureen?
[MCM00001269_SPEAKER_10]: So I meant to bring this up earlier, I apologize, but in terms of the statement for International Human Rights Day, I was wondering whether we might get the mayor to put something on her, you know, her little voicemail that she sends out to people about what's going on.
[Frances Nwajei]: Oh, a robocall.
[MCM00001269_SPEAKER_10]: Yeah, that might be an interesting way to do it as well. Or if she would even acknowledge it herself, even if we didn't get credit for it, it would be great. It would be great if she mentioned us because then more people would know about us, but that was it.
[Frances Nwajei]: reminding me now that you mentioned it, I think that this, you suggested this when we first started talking about it. I don't see a problem with it. I just have to make sure I connect with comms soon so that it can be on their robocall cycle, because they have the robocall cycle and then they have like the social media cycle. But I think that that's great and who knows, It's not a very long document, so should I, would you like me to push? Would you like me to request on your behalf that perhaps it can also be shared on social media?
[MCM00001269_SPEAKER_10]: Yeah, I mean, I think it would be great. I'm not sure having her read the whole thing makes sense, but certainly acknowledging it, you know, and saying we join in with the national, you know, whatever, International Day, it just might be a nice recognition.
[Frances Nwajei]: speak with comms and let me speak with the mayor. I, you know, I, one thing I can say is if it can be, if the mayor believes that it can be done, the mayor will find a way to make sure it's done. So I think that this is something that would be welcomed. And, you know, I can get, I can report back to you by email just as a follow up so that you all know, you know, where we are in the stat. Thank you. You're welcome. I'm so glad that you mentioned that because that's an avenue that we just were not, we were not tapping into, you know. So, Francis, I come from Nepal. You have to, I'm sorry, but you'll have to wait until I finish, until the commissioner finishes. And then one request. I have one request. Yes. Okay. But you have to wait until it's public participation. So I'm done now with the vaccine announcement. So I have to open up the floor to the commissioners to see if they have anything else that they would like to add. Okay, so now it's time for public participation. So this is where you would introduce yourself to the other commission, the commissioners that are on here now, and then you could comment on anything on the agenda or share some thoughts and suggestions that you might have.
[SPEAKER_06]: Can I ask now?
[Frances Nwajei]: Yes, now you may.
[SPEAKER_06]: So I come from Nepal, Mount Everest country. The day before yesterday, there was a big earthquake in Nepal and many people died and many houses collapsed. Is our commission has jurisdiction to express some statement about their impactful life?
[Frances Nwajei]: So the commission's jurisdiction is written in by ordinance. And right now, my sense is the commission is reframing itself and using the broad lens of human rights. I've not seen the commission reach the stage of making statements for individual incidents that occur. Because whilst I believe that we can all agree On here. There are unfortunately so many horrible things that are happening that I would hate to miss something inadvertently. So, you know, if you if your question is, can the commission, make a statement about the. earthquake that occurred in Nepal, I would have to open that up to the commissioners and I would have to really see if that is something that is in line with the ordinance.
[MCM00001269_SPEAKER_10]: I for one would like to have that conversation. I think it's an interesting point, particularly if some of these things affect a population that is, you know, invested in in our city, it seems as though we should, I think we should have the conversation. I think it would be very interesting.
[Frances Nwajei]: I think that, you know, what I will say is I can't say have the conversation. I can't say don't have the conversation. But what I will say is that if you have the conversation for one, you must be willing to have the conversation for all. Under no circumstances can we not have that conversation for all. So this is something that I ask that you search and you think deeply about. And I say that as somebody who is used to working from the unpopular side, right? So, you know, many, many moons ago, when I was doing more clinical services, right? I, yes, you know, I worked with survivors, but my true work was with the batterers, you know, not the popular side. So, I raised that because as a human rights commission for a city. We need to make sure that everyone feels comfortable coming to us, and we cannot allow ourselves to inadvertently become politicized. Does that make sense.
[MCM00001269_SPEAKER_10]: Absolutely. That would be part of the discussion, Francis, what you're suggesting. At least I would think, you know, is this a good idea? If not, what? What's the parameters? I mean, it seems as though it's an interesting role. I don't know who else in the city does it or whether we should, but I think it would be worth a conversation. with your point while taking it differently.
[Frances Nwajei]: That's a good point. I mean, I can definitely put it on the agenda for you for December's agenda. Maybe everybody thinks about it. Just from the DEI lens, I just have to make mention that you can't pick and choose. And you have to think very, very carefully about this. Yeah, I'm not saying don't, I'm not saying don't do it. I'm not saying do it, but I just, you know.
[MCM00001269_SPEAKER_10]: No, we get you, you know, exactly where you're, what your point is. Excellent one, you know.
[Frances Nwajei]: And then, and how do you rectify How do you rectify if we start having, if we start having conversations and making statements, how do you rectify the large populations of people that are here, that unjust things have happened and still continue to, you know what I'm saying? So these are things that we just have to, you know, really think about because sometimes having a good heart can actually end up doing more harm. And we, you know, we wanna, I feel like we want to recognize, but how do we do that in a way that is going to be just an equitable for all? Of course. I think that's what we're all about.
[MCM00001269_SPEAKER_04]: Thank you. Thank you, Francis. Sorry, my dog is barking. No worries. We definitely need to tread lightly and be thoughtful because we don't want to disenfranchise anyone. And we also don't want to have hollow words either. we wanna be careful about being in the, you know, putting out too many statements and it's just all talk and, you know, rather than action. And so, but it will be an interesting conversation.
[Frances Nwajei]: So, you know, I can, when I invite Adam, I can ask him if he's had any experience with, you know, commissions, making statements.
[MCM00001269_SPEAKER_10]: You mean as someone to add more information to the discussion?
[Frances Nwajei]: Yeah, someone to add more information to the discussion. I mean, the coalition has helped, you know, other human rights, has helped other human rights coalitions. You know, And I would, you know, my big thing is, you know, where is the balance? Who decides where the balance is? You know, for me in my role, like I tell people all the time, I'm not beholden to anybody. I'm beholden to the federal law. That's where the balance is for me. I don't have a choice. That's what defines my role at the core, right? So as a result, that's what I have to look at. And if it's not there, then I don't have to do it. And as a result, I end up being consistent all the time. But with something like this, well, where's the balance? But it will definitely be a fruitful conversation. So I'll add it on for December.
[MCM00001269_SPEAKER_08]: Do you need a motion to do so?
[Frances Nwajei]: Oh, goodness gracious, Rob, go for it. Yes, yes.
[MCM00001269_SPEAKER_08]: People, stop listening to me. Motion to include on the agenda for the next meeting discussion topic of the HRC issuing statements of sentiment, we'll say, unless anyone else has a better way to generically qualify the conversation.
[MCM00001269_SPEAKER_10]: Sounds great. I'll second.
[Frances Nwajei]: Thank you so much. I don't know, someone's at the door. So that ends the piece that I was responding to for public participation. Does anybody else? All right, well it looks like I could give you back 15 minutes of your life. Well, thank you so much, everyone. I'm going to make sure I get the acknowledgement statement edited and out to you this evening, because I really want to make sure that it gets on the agenda for city council. And I'll start working with getting those, whether it's the robocall or the share on social media or the video on social media, I'll start working on getting that done.
[MCM00001269_SPEAKER_10]: Thank you, Francis.
[Frances Nwajei]: You're welcome.
[MCM00001269_SPEAKER_10]: Thank you. Let us know what we can help with too. Perhaps there are things I can do.
[Frances Nwajei]: I will. I think that at this point, I think that this is all the in-house stuff now. You know, you've already done the hard work. I was just going to take the easy way out and use email to email the statement to all the city council with you. I wasn't going to do anything super fancy, like, you know, hands deliver letters to myself to my office. But I think at this point it's all in house but if it does start to feel like oh my gosh there's something else that needs to be done. I'll certainly reach out.
[MCM00001269_SPEAKER_08]: So unless somebody makes a motion. Almost beat you to it, but not quite. If there isn't anything else, I'm happy to make a motion to adjourn this month's meeting.
[MCM00001269_SPEAKER_04]: Seconded.
[Frances Nwajei]: Thank you, everyone. Have a wonderful Thanksgiving if you celebrate. But if you don't and for you, it's a dessert holiday like it is for me then enjoy it as well Thanks