[Frances Nwajei]: Hello, hello, hello, everyone. I hope you're all doing well. Greetings to our new attendees. It's really exciting to see you. And welcome back commissioners. I was a little bit nervous. I was like, oh, are they going to come back? Or are they going to think like, you know what, that person from, you know, City Hall, we're not quite sure about that. Welcome back and thank you so much for recommitting to moving this along. So I am going to switch the agenda around a little bit just to accommodate different schedules and to allow for time for introductions and you know to get to know our new applicants better so that decisions can be made. For those of you who don't know, I'm Frances, I'm the Director of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion for the City of Medford and my office is located here at City Hall. And for those that do know me already, well congratulations, you get to know me all over again. So on that note, I'm going to turn it over to the current chair of the Human Rights Commission, Shelly.
[Chelli Keshavan]: Hi, everybody. My name is Shelly. Contrary to Frances's comments, we love her. We are grateful for her energy and her capacity to engage us and push us forward. So I'm Shelly. I'm the current chair. I've been so for about a year, maybe. Sorry, there are young children here who will do this every meeting. I grew up in Medford. I was once part of the Medford Public Schools. I've been committed to a lot of racial equity work in the city. I'm also super interested in education and achievement work. So at the beginning of lockdown, I threw myself into any opportunity that came my way and I found Neil Osborne and jumped on as a commissioner. And then last year stepped into this role. And I've been really excited to see how our team can reimagine our work and our sort of stance and become much more visible and active. So I'm grateful to each of you for being here. I'm grateful to each of you for being sort of patient with our process. We are all dedicated, but also pulled in many directions as I'm sure you all are too. So I'm hoping that we can start with Commissioner, some short introductions just from current commissioners and then from our incredible Steve Schnapp who takes notes for us monthly. and then maybe we'll move into approval for notes, for minutes rather. So maybe I can just call on someone and then ping pong, if that's okay. So Munir, do you want to go ahead? Munir was our previous chair.
[Munir Jirmanus]: Sure. Hi everybody. I'm Munir Germanus. I've been living in Pittsburgh for quite a while. I have two daughters, who many years ago graduated from Medford High and attended a local college. And I have been a member of the Human Rights Commission for, I think, close to five years, three of which I served as chair until my family obligations got a little too demanding. And I gladly gave it up to some capable hands. And that's enough said.
[Chelli Keshavan]: Thank you, Munir. Do you want to popcorn one of us?
[Munir Jirmanus]: Sure. Judy, go ahead.
[Joan Cyr]: Hi, everybody. I'm Judy Kaplan. I've been on the commission for more years than I can remember. I am a proud resident of West Medford for 33 years. And I've been active in various things. So that's enough. Who's next, Rob?
[MCM00001269_SPEAKER_08]: Yeah, sure. Hi, everybody. My name is Rob Klein. I'm also a proud resident, but of South Medford. If anybody knows where Bob's is, I'm right around the corner from that. It's usually a pretty safe landmark, most folks now. I've lived in Medford since 2014 when I relocated to Massachusetts from Pennsylvania by way of Buffalo, New York. Can finally wear this hat proudly. I got involved with the commission probably about two and a half years ago now. Really just getting, you know, to know the community. I purchased my home around that time. I'd been renting in the area before that and saw the posting for commissioners. And before I came to Massachusetts, I was really heavily involved with advocating for folks who had been caught up in the justice system and did some really great work to give folks back into the community who otherwise wouldn't have been there. So trying to take that a step further now, get involved here, and make sure that Medford is a welcoming, inviting, and hospitable place to each and every one of its residents.
[Chelli Keshavan]: Rob, I'm going to jump in. I see that we have Kelly Cunha with us. I know that she has an engagement coming right up shortly. So let's, if we can, let her introduce herself.
[Kelly Cunha]: Hi sorry, I'm not driving that would be unsafe, but I'm going to be driving shortly. My name is Kelly cunha and I've been on the commission. My gosh how long has it been now I don't even know when Shelly I right before Shelly joined. I'm the co-chair and I'm a social worker by day and a mom Medford mom 24 7. I have a child in the Met for public schools now and we talk about why we joined.
[Chelli Keshavan]: Sure, why not? We're really whatever you want to share. We're just getting to know you.
[Kelly Cunha]: Yeah, so yeah, and I just the things I love about Medford are its diversity and I want to continue to have Medford be a welcoming place and not just the fake welcoming the real radical welcome that that I know we have in us. So that's my hope. Thanks.
[Chelli Keshavan]: Thank you, Kelly. I saw Mr. Neil Osborne join us, which is so exciting to me. Do you want to introduce yourself?
[Osborne]: Good evening, everyone. My name is Neil Osborne. I am the director of human resources for the city of Medford, and I have been missing my human rights commission group. It's been on my to-do list. It's like to pop back in to say hi, to make sure you guys are doing great under the leadership of Ms. Waje, and it looks like you're doing fabulously fine. I almost had to host it. I'm like, hey, I can jump on as a guest. So I won't stay the whole time, but I'm just checking in to make sure you guys are doing fine. I know you are.
[Chelli Keshavan]: Thrilled to have you, Neil. Chief Buckley, if you would.
[Jack Buckley]: Hi everyone, Chief Jack Buckley. I have been chief of police for coming up on four years now it's unbelievable. Last time I've been a police officer. My entire career with the city of Medford so it's about 2425 years lived in Medford for quite a period of time I went to school here in Medford not the Metro public schools but I went to St. Clements all 12 years, it's kind of a sort of the unique aspect. Not many people do the full 12 years. They're married, two daughters. They're a little bit older now. They're all out of school. So, well, they're out of grade school and college. And so I'm happy to be part of this. I'm very, you know, I feel it's very important that the police play a role in the Human Rights Commission. And so that's why, you know, we attend here and we want to be part of, you know, an open community. Thank you.
[Chelli Keshavan]: Thank you, and last but never, never least, Steve, if you would.
[Steve Schnapp]: Sure, thank you. I am not a commissioner. I'm a volunteer with the Human Rights Commission. I've been volunteering seven or eight years now. I moved to Medford in 2011 from Cambridge, lived there for 33 years, originally from the Bronx. I'm a retired community organizer. In fact, I worked in Medford, Malden, and Everett for four years in the 80s, organizing with the anti-poverty agency at the time called TRICAP, no longer exists. I'm involved in several different community-based organizations in Medford, working on various issues of social justice. and happy to be the note taker informally for this group as a service and put my two cents in when I can. I live with my wife here, have two grown daughters and three grandchildren, luckily all in the area. Pleased to continue supporting the work of the Human Rights Commission.
[Unidentified]: Steve is firing you guys, learn from Steve.
[Frances Nwajei]: And Shelley, I feel like I need to like put the party hat out there because I feel like we can't do a standing ovation, you know, to volunteer to be a note taker, seven years running. I mean, that is commitment and that's really, really huge to have somebody that is willing to take notes because I know I forget and I just like ramble and it's up to that person to figure out you know what's being said and organized. So thank you and thank you all commissioners it's so good to see all of you and great to share this space again with you. Back to you Shelley.
[Chelli Keshavan]: Yeah, so we're going to switch the schedule around a little bit while we still have capacity for quorum. For commissioners, did we all get a chance to review the minutes? And if so, are we good? Are there any edits? Looks like we're OK. Yeah, so I'd love to make a motion to approve the minutes.
[MCM00001269_SPEAKER_08]: Second.
[Chelli Keshavan]: Perfect.
[Steve Schnapp]: Sorry, for the notes, who approved and seconded?
[Chelli Keshavan]: Rob.
[Steve Schnapp]: Rob approved, who seconded?
[Chelli Keshavan]: I'm sorry, Rob seconded.
[Kelly Cunha]: I second because I think Shelly can, Shelly, you can approve it, right? So it has to be one of us. Right. I can do whatever.
[Chelli Keshavan]: Teamwork. Thank you, Shelly. Thank you, Rob. Great. Do we want to move into introductions, Frances? I'm thinking, yes.
[Frances Nwajei]: Pardon me. Can I just do the two announcements very quickly, just in case people are interested? Absolutely. This coming Saturday at Tufts Park, Medford Overcoming Addiction is holding a kickboxing, not kick, I said kickboxing, kickball event um it was a kickboxing could you imagine um that would be fun too but they are holding um a kickball event so if you are interested please do feel free to stop by um and show your support and be a part of that And then on the 24th of September, the mystic river celebration is taking place and that's happening at the condom show. So the Office of Diversity has paid for table space. Right now, there is a representative from the other commission that the Office of Diversity helps to facilitate. And if anybody's interested in manning the table on behalf of the Human Rights Committee on the 24th, please let me know. The hours of that event are from noon till 4 p.m. Yes. So those are the two announcements about events.
[Chelli Keshavan]: Thank you, Francis. I would be happy to co-table or take up part of a table. Yeah, absolutely. So most importantly, we want to hear from all of you and learn more about you and what brought you to the HRC. I think we'll get started with introductions if that's okay. And hopefully we can just move through folks. I might move left to right, just because that seems easiest to me. And I would love it if each of you could just share your name and then short introduction, and then talk a little bit about what brings you to the HRC and maybe share what feels important to you for Medford's future, a little bit of a vision in common, if that sounds good. Yeah, great. So for me, the first person I have is Jamie Thompson, and I'll just move left to right from there.
[Unidentified]: Good morning, everybody. I'm sorry. Good evening, everyone. My name is Jamie Thompson. I'm the broker owner for Thompson Realty in Medford over in Hanes Square. Born and raised in Medford. Just moved back to Medford a couple of years ago. So I've been in and out of the city for 40 years, 45 now. Sorry. Don't want to admit my age. I'm active in the Great Boston Association of Realtors. Housing is really my priority from a human rights perspective. We do a lot of real estate in the area, property management, rentals. We've helped with volunteering with Mass Housing and the Boston Housing Association for some of the voucher programs as well as a lot of the emergency rental assistance due to COVID. So we do a lot of education and coaching people that are working on finding housing through rentals, as well as developing into buyers in the area. I'm also on the Chamber of Commerce, so very active in both.
[Chelli Keshavan]: Thank you so much. I have Johnny next. Oh dear, Johnny.
[Frances Nwajei]: Oh no.
[Chelli Keshavan]: Yeah, although it does seem that your microphone is on.
[Unidentified]: Is the volume all up on your computer, John? Johnny, it looks like you have headphones. No, we can't hear you.
[Rebecca Davidson]: I wonder if you take the headphones out of the headphone jack, if that would help. Like pull them out of the headphone jack. The other thing is when you hover over your mute button, you'll see a little arrow. and there's an audio settings and you can just make sure that it says perhaps same as system or try toggling those.
[Unidentified]: No, I can't hear you.
[Frances Nwajei]: Johnny, why don't we do this right we can move to someone else and you can play around with it and if we hear if you say something and we hear you, I'll give you a thumbs up chat using the chat is also another option. It's not ideal, I know because you will get the two way flow. Yeah, I think you should try the toggle. Yeah, you could also try calling in. You would just have to mute your, if you're using a laptop, you would have to mute that because otherwise it would give feedback. Thank you for that.
[Unidentified]: I couldn't see who put that call in reminder.
[Frances Nwajei]: And Steve, I can help with some of the names too, because I have the full list as well.
[Chelli Keshavan]: Maybe in the meantime, so I have Jules on the screen next for me.
[SPEAKER_14]: Hello, everyone. It's a real honor to be part of this meeting and to get to meet everyone. So thank you very much for this opportunity. I really appreciate it. So I'm Jules Gardner. I've lived in Medford, North Medford. Shout out to the area for about nine years now. I'm originally from the UK. And I've traveled around a little bit. But I now call Medford my home. I see myself being here for a very, very long time. I really like this community. I think I found it very welcoming. I'm an LGBT person, LGBTQ plus person. And my wife and I have been very pleased to be part of the Medford. So we really appreciate that. My motivation for reaching out to you guys about this position was I feel like as an LGBT person, I've really benefited from people who've gone before me, who have really advocated and supported the LGBT community. Right. So I would like the opportunity to kind of pay that back to help other communities out there. And I'm not saying that the LGBT community doesn't need more support, or support is definitely needed. And there are things which are coming up, which we need to advocate for more. But I really want to do something in my community where I can help these other areas and these other communities to feel more welcome and to enjoy and feel happy and confident and walking around and stuff like this. So that's my motivation.
[Unidentified]: Thank you so much, Jules. I appreciate that. Matthew, you have the floor.
[SPEAKER_00]: Hello, can you hear me?
[Unidentified]: Yes.
[SPEAKER_00]: Thank you for having me. First of all, I'd like to say it's my first time. My name is Matthew McCombski. I've been a resident of Medford for about 10 years now. I went through grades four all the way up into high school. So 12, all in the Medford school district. I love the city of Medford. I love being a resident here. And I joined the commission because I want to keep Medford inclusive and diverse. And I just love the city and I want to get more involved and excited to be here.
[Chelli Keshavan]: Thank you, Matthew. I think that John's volume might be in a different place now if he wants to try one more time. Oh, no.
[Unidentified]: I'm so sorry.
[Frances Nwajei]: I don't know, Jodi, you might end up having to use the chat feature or call in via the telephone.
[Chelli Keshavan]: He says he's going to try a couple of other tricks and then see what he can make work. Fabulous. Can we go with Diane MacDonald in the meantime?
[Amanda Centrella]: Sure. Thank you so much. It's nice to meet you all. Um, I've been a resident of Medford for 15 years, but I bought, you know, rent starting out renting. And, um, I now I've lived for the last 10 years in West Medford. Um, I work in higher ed and I work in the space of stories, stories for social change stories for building community. And, um, So I put a lot of effort, just lifelong social justice seeker. And I recently took an incredible course at the Kennedy School with organizer Marshall Gant about public narrative to bring stories to a completely different space in terms of diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging. I'll start with, you know, I'm a mom, I'm Taiwanese American, the daughter of a Taiwanese seamstress. My father's a military man. And then I have a very multiracial family. My kids share like a badge of honor that they're Malaysian with everyone. You know, their father's from the Caribbean. And we were drawn to Medford because of the diverse, the socioeconomic diversity, and the cultural diversity, and I always felt like we belonged here. And so with all of the divisiveness of the last quite a few years now, and all of this work that I do for our alumni community at Harvard, which is 400,000 strong, to really try to bring community together using stories around values rather than religion or political differences, like bringing and centering people together around values. I thought I'd really like to do that. with the city of Medford. I'm also a tour guide at Royal House and Slave Quarters. I've been with them for the past, gosh, almost seven years. And I also help them with some writing for fundraising and just engagement. And I've just met so many extraordinary people doing that work from the area and from Medford. And a lot of times people ask me, What about community conversations, especially when we have our big giving voice event pre-pandemic? And so I hope that, you know, I'm just looking forward to just working with you all and coming up with some new ideas for our city.
[Chelli Keshavan]: Thank you, Diane. The question of how and why stories get curated is often on the agenda here. So I love all of that. Forgive me if I am mispronouncing, Mierland, if I can give you the floor.
[MCM00001350_SPEAKER_04]: My name is Merlin Paul, and I'm a Medford resident. I've been living here in West Medford for the past 10 years. I'm a working professional. And recently, I am a member of the Medford Pride Planning Committee. And I've been trying my best to stay involved within our community and see the best way that I can get involved to serve our community. Also, I am a volunteer with the Big Water, Big Sisters program with the high school student. One of my little sister just graduated high school, moving on to college. So more opportunities there as well. And I'm looking forward to get to know the group better and see where I can get involved and more involved within our community. Thank you and thank you for having me.
[Chelli Keshavan]: Thank you so much. Jacqueline Torres.
[Jenny Graham]: Hi, I'm Jacqueline, nice to meet you all. I am a Medford resident in the Wellington area. I've been here about a year and a half and I've just loved the community and I've gotten involved. I'm part of the Medford Arts Council as well as I'm on the Medford Solid Waste Task Force, which has been great opportunities to learn more about both our arts program and how we can continue to cultivate great art around the city and also revamping our trash and recycling. as we have a new proposal that's going out. So it's been really great to get involved in these things. I work in diversity, equity, inclusion. I do that in my previous role, really focused on helping the organization and the employees learn more about important topics and how they can understand them and have these critical conversations both within the organization and then in the you know, with family and friends and out in the world. So community building is really important to me. I also did immigration in the past. So I really helped with people who were, you know, from different countries getting their H1Bs, their visas, their OBT, CPT, all that stuff. So I really want to help with, you know, Medford residents and really kind of help with the exposure to that and make sure that it's a safe space and, you know, continue to build a great community in Medford. I've loved it so far and just want to continue to help.
[Chelli Keshavan]: Thank you so much, Jacqueline. John is now joining us from his wife, Sylvia's computer. So. Can you hear me? Hey, success. There we go. Yay. Welcome.
[SPEAKER_16]: I chose that Macs are usually better than PCs. So the irony of this, which is my wife always reminds me when things like this happen is I used to be a product manager in software development. So. For someone who's been involved in software for 20 years, don't let me around a personal computer, because I probably don't know what I'm doing. I've lived in Medford for the past eight years. Before that, I lived in Poughkeepsie, New York. I taught at Vassar College. I taught economics for 20 years. And then a friend of mine got involved in educational software, helped develop educational software for Pearson, a large, large educational company. And so I jumped ship since teaching has its moments, but it wasn't necessarily what I was best at. So for the past 20 years I was involved in software development. Moved up to Boston eight years ago with my wife. Partly because that's where the headquarters of the US Division were and the software development process. And my dad was up here and my sister and my son was in Stoneham. I have two new, well, one is fairly new granddaughter and I just have another granddaughter who was born a month ago. And so that's kind of what brought me to Medford. And working for Pearson, I guess is what got me much more in touch with how beneficial inclusive environments can be and welcoming environments can be. Because I was surrounded by a very diverse workforce, both within the country and outside the country in India and Sri Lanka, also China to some degree. And I enjoyed and saw the benefits of being around lots of different kinds of people, people very different from me, as you can probably guess, I'm actually a legitimate WASP, 100%, white Anglo-Saxon Protestant, with all the benefits therein. And, but my wife is Mexican American. And so I have a lot of connection to people of other nationalities and cultures. I lived in Japan for four years. And I live in hillside, the hillside neighborhood right in the backside of Tufts. So I'm surrounded by tough students. I love being around students and all the vibrancy they bring to life and I definitely want to make sure that the community is a welcoming community and as a The benefits of diverse population are really hard to describe, but I've always enjoyed them and supported them and tried not to get in the way when that would be a problem. So that's about it.
[Chelli Keshavan]: Thank you so much, John. Appreciate you sharing. I have Bruce Patterson next.
[SPEAKER_12]: Thank you. Can anyone hear me? So very quickly, I've been in Medford now for 14 years, and I love the city. It's actually, I consider a hidden jewel, given the fact that, you know, we always get, you know, Somerville being the place to be. But I mean, Medford comes into its own too, because it's still developing in a lot of really positive ways. So like anything else, it's something you want to be a part of and help it grow. I'm basically here to help wherever I can.
[Chelli Keshavan]: Thank you, Bruce. And last but not least, our tech support, Rebecca, if you could take the floor. Thank you so much.
[Rebecca Davidson]: Yeah, sure. I am. I have to run webinars with work. So it just kicks in that I'm like, Okay, what do we need to do here? But hi, everyone. My name is Rebecca. I moved to Medford when I was a kid and currently live in Haines Square, but used to live closer to West Medford. I have one child in the school system in first grade and one more on the way to the school system. I'm very passionate about racial justice, equity and inclusion, not only for the city of Medford but in everything that I do in my day job and state government. where I'm the lead on environmental justice and food access programs. I'm a true believer in community organizing as a way to enact change. And what that means to me is engaging with and listening to the residents of Medford and stakeholders. And I have experienced community organizing in Medford and in surrounding areas. And as part of my regular work, I've received racial justice training on how to structure programs and policies in a way that considers and respects people as individuals and not in the traditional top-down way that we have historically seen, you know, government policies and programs being run. And I've served on different boards and commissions related to nutrition, diversity, environmental justice, And as a member of a commission, I'm someone who isn't afraid to put in the work behind the scenes to make sure that we're elevating voices that need to be heard. And as far as a vision for Medford's future, I think we have a lot to do to address housing insecurity, food insecurity, these things that affect our residents' dignity and that are truly our human rights. And I think, you know, we want to bring people together to elevate and strengthen the voices of our youth. We have a very active youth community in this city and to help people better understand how we can enact change in Medford and what that would look like. I think we have a lot of work to do as far as language access and making sure that we're reaching people in a way that resonates with them. So thank you for having me. Happy to be here. Great meeting all of you. And thank you.
[Chelli Keshavan]: Thank you so much, Rebecca. And to all of you, I appreciate learning, hearing, listening. It's very exciting to see you all here.
[Frances Nwajei]: Yeah, I don't know what you guys, what you all think. I mean, commissioners, this is just wonderful. I mean, I'm just, I'm absolutely tickled looking at the screen and hearing, seeing people that are passionate about their community. It's a big warm hug for me. I, you know, especially coming from a conference, you know, where you're talking about DEI stuff. And, you know, you've got people there that really want to have those difficult conversations. And then you've got people there whose body language, lack of eye contact is telling you, please don't come to me with this. I'm done. I'm burnt out. I'm spent. Coming to this meeting, despite the almost not making it, I almost got stuck in hold, Chief. I nearly called you to say help. I think all of you reminds me of why this is really important. My style is very, very different. I'm not going to say a little bit different. My style is very, very different. I was a statewide director for human rights. I worked off regulations. I did not work off ordinances. So this is all very new to me. But since over the last few months working with the current commissioners, I have a better understanding, right, of how human rights in that broad spectrum of the word fits in with a town, a town's identity, the goings on, the day to day, the sense of value I literally got off the highway and there was just this big smile. It was like, oh, I'm here Route 60 Medford, yes. But here's the thing, I don't even live in Medford, but I get excited. It's like blue and white, yes, mustangs, you know, what's happening? But that energy is from all of you. It's from seeing your passion and your willingness and your wantingness to act and do something. So from the bottom of my heart, I really, really thank you. There were two people that emailed me that were supposed to be here today. And unfortunately, they had been scheduled for work, basically stuck at work, not able to leave. And that is, you know, that is part of the price that we pay in this world where it just seems like it's an ongoing hamster wheel. So pretty much what happens is that we have our meetings like this, we run through our agendas, meeting minutes are reviewed, motions are made, whether or not to approve. We have broad-based discussions on projects that we are working on, whether it's something that's immediate or something in the future. I wouldn't say that I, did I request or did I sort of like push? I think I sort of just like strongly suggested to the commissioners that I would eventually like to have a closer look at the ordinance. When we talk about ordinances, when we talk about things like Robert's Rules, let's remember those things were written a long time ago and we need to figure out how we can continue to do our work in this day and age. I'm not saying get rid of it, I don't have that power, but start reviewing it. Do we need to change language? Do we need to tweak language? I mean, can we have a Friends of the Human Rights Commission group, you know, for people who want to support their community? So just throwing all that out there. But the recommendations will come from the current commissioners. I have zero voting authority. Maybe that's a good thing because otherwise I would say I would love every single person to join us. But just wanted to share that with you. Now, I'm gonna turn it over to Munir and maybe, Judy, or is it just you, Munir? Is it too early to give an update on Safe MedMed? Maybe talk about why they got involved and where they are now, if you're comfortable.
[Munir Jirmanus]: No, yeah, I'll speak briefly to that. Just to, I mean, what an amazing group of people that have connected here. And my hope is that since some of you will not be officially commissioners, but as Frances said, maybe be friends of the HRC and be active that way. But briefly, just to fill you all in, there is right now an active effort committee that was at least the way things developed, is that we initially had a subcommittee of the Human Rights Commission that was going to look at the Human Rights Commission and at the ordinance and see how we can perhaps improve it a little bit or improve it a lot. And we worked with a group from an organization, Safe Medford, two members of whom are right here, Steve and Judy. Judy is a commissioner as well as myself. And so we initially worked on the subcommittee, including both HRC and members of Safe Medford, but then subsequently we decided that it was easier to officially withdraw the Human Rights Commission subcommittee out of this committee. because of restrictions that basically were involved in the open meeting law and it restricted our access to people and so on and so forth. So basically this subcommittee is now actively at work, has been for several months, and we've interviewed a lot of folks who were previously connected to the Human Rights Commission, we will be bringing some recommendations to the Human Rights Commission. Hopefully in about a month, maybe two, Judy and Steve can correct me if they think this is not quite practical. But, and that's, you know, we have, you know, we're quite excited about this and looking forward to, you know, building a very active and involved Human Rights Commission. Judy, you wanna add something to that?
[Joan Cyr]: No, if anybody has any questions, you know, we'd all be happy to speak to that. Any questions about this? It's a committee of the group Safe Medford now, and I think everything else has been said. Steve, do you want to take it?
[Steve Schnapp]: Thank you. The only thing that hasn't been said, I just want to make clear, some of you may know, Safe Medford is about six or seven years old, I believe. It actually came about out of a project called Medford Community Conversations, the Medford Conversations Project, which tried to get groups of regular residents and employees in Medford to talk about key issues in small group facilitated discussions. And one of the first outcomes of some of those discussions was the plight of immigrants, particularly undocumented immigrants, given the political climate at the time. It was just before the 2016 election. And folks felt, immigrants in particular, others as well, were unsafe in Medford. And this group formed to see what it can do. Since then, it has broadened its mandate to just say we're focused on making Medford safe and secure and thriving for all residents, regardless of status or group or anything else. So that's a broader mandate. And we have seen the HRC as a great vehicle for addressing human rights violations or pushing a human rights agenda that includes safety and security for all its residents. And we agreed to help out the HRC. And as Munir and Judy said, to develop some recommendations for your consideration.
[Unidentified]: Thank you so much, Steve.
[Chelli Keshavan]: Frances, can I jump in for a second? I kind of just want to lift, I think for me, it feels really special that we're toeing the line of having the HRC with, you know, the gift of the city being here with us between Chief Buckley and having Frances here and having that, establishing that connection, but also pairing that with the freedom of something like Safe Medford and being able to have more room in terms of the working conversations that get advanced and choosing your own timelines and goals. So I think for me, I'm kind of on that hamster wheel that Frances mentioned, I'm supposed to be on a different Zoom meeting right now, but I think for me, the titles mean very little and the goal is really about pushing the racial equity and innovation and vision. And so all of our meetings are open and I would love and encourage all of you to sort of join and contribute and share what is coming up for you irrespective of titles and whatnot, because your energy is important and welcomed and respected. So yeah, I am appreciative of all of you and I apologize that I need to jump off, but a mother's work is never done and I'm supposed to talk to the principal. And I have new kids in the Medford Public Schools. So yeah, good luck to all of us, I guess.
[Frances Nwajei]: Thank you, Shelly. Good luck.
[Chelli Keshavan]: Thank you, guys. All right, so good to see faces new and old. Have a lovely night, everybody.
[Frances Nwajei]: So we're moving ahead in our agenda. Commissioners, I just wanted to find out, did you have anything else to add? Because I would like to give the opportunity for our invited guests to ask questions that you know, they might have or of each person or just general question that somebody can take so that we can have a two-way dialogue. Am I going to have to voluntold my commissions? I didn't drink coffee. I was good. I went to tea. All right, so maybe I'll turn it over to our invited guests. I mean, you know, are there areas of the Human Rights Commission that you would like to know more about or specific roles, specific functions, thoughts, ideas? I'm open, I'm open to the dialogue and we all are.
[Amanda Centrella]: So, so as someone completely new to this, I would just love to understand how the arc of the year will work and are there already established goals and like, what are the plans for the work in the year ahead? And will we, will we be divvied up into little working teams that will we, and we'll be reporting back to each other monthly? I think I'm just looking to understand how, how we will all work together. throughout the year ahead?
[Munir Jirmanus]: Let me put in a couple of words that might address that. It might behoove you all to take a look at the current ordinance that established the Human Rights Commission. It's been a while since it's been looked at. And that's one of the reasons that this subcommittee from Safe Medford is going to be recommending all sorts of things and try to make it more active and more relevant to our times. So as far as the details of how the Human Rights Commission works, that's pretty much left to the Human Rights Commission itself. We have our monthly meetings, as you probably know, but beyond that, there are projects that the Human Rights Commission have worked on in the past. Now the pandemic has impacted us significantly, I would say. because of difficulties in having face-to-face contact, although we're slowly getting back to some sort of normalcy. Uh, but, uh, you know, so there will be, I guess, subcommittees, uh, and hopefully the recommendations that, uh, that will be coming forward from this subcommittee, uh, will, uh, will meet the approval of, uh, this commission. And then, of course, the next step will be to contact the city itself, because I guess the ordinance is through the city council, and I'm sure the administration will be involved. So we'll have some work ahead of us, I'm sure, to set things right. And then we'll have our priorities and see how we can advance the human rights of all people throughout all the departments in the city and throughout all the organizations in the city. So I don't know if that answers your question, but that's just in generalities my thinking on this.
[Amanda Centrella]: That's very helpful. Thank you. Thank you.
[Joan Cyr]: We know where the ordinance is available for people. And by the way, it's extremely out of date.
[Frances Nwajei]: Yes, that's why it is Judy. And I've got good news. I didn't, I didn't share, but I actually had someone retype it so that there is a word version versus a PDF that nobody can edit that prints out, you know, all wonky. But I did have it retyped so that that way, when we are ready to move forward as a group, everybody can have a copy. right? Some people like to print out and write their notes. Some people like to make their edits on the computer. But there is a Word version of it now, which I'm hoping will make it easier for us.
[SPEAKER_16]: So how old is the current version? I'm curious.
[Munir Jirmanus]: I think it's probably around 30 years old. Judy, do you know?
[Joan Cyr]: I really don't. I really don't. But it's also the human rights ordinance for the city. So it establishes the city's commitment to human rights. But yeah, I don't know how old it is. There's one pretty hard to read PDF. I actually do have a Word version.
[Unidentified]: Is the one that was posted to the site as updated in 2015 not much of an update? So there's one on the website that was posted as an update in 2015. Was that not much of an update and still considered updated?
[Frances Nwajei]: So the one that I have is a signed copy. It was signed December 16, 2014. 2000 what? 14. Yeah.
[Joan Cyr]: So revised one on the website.
[Frances Nwajei]: I don't know if that's a revised one. It's probably the same one. It's more than likely the same one. Because by the time it goes for signature, then it gets sent out, approved and then posted. Yeah. So I mean, again, I think that with things like this, you know, whether any group, any committee, it's always good to have a look see at least once every five years, because things change right in 2018, you know, you know, there was really no advancement in zoom. Webex, Teams, things of that nature. Those of us that lived internationally were celebrating the use of WhatsApp. We could make free phone calls, we didn't have to have those calling cards, you know, and then the big advancement was that you could actually load your calling card into the phone itself. So you could auto load it if you ran out of funds instead of running out to go buy another one and scratch it off. So look at where we are now. I mean, even with Zoom, look at all the different reaction buttons that Zoom has. Zoom did not have that at the start of the pandemic. You know, they did not have The AI technology that does the audio translation where we get to see it in readable format. Teams was not even something that Microsoft had. You know, it was still Skype. So I think it's great that we look at these things. It's part of helping to drive this beautiful city. So we've got two hands and I want to say that I think it went Rebecca and then Jacqueline. And if I'm wrong, please switch the order.
[Rebecca Davidson]: Thank you. Yeah, I was just wondering if commissioners could share a project or example of an initiative that you've been particularly proud of during your term as a commissioner on the Human Rights Commission. It'd be great to hear about that.
[MCM00001269_SPEAKER_08]: I'm happy to jump in there and maybe this can provide some additional context. This isn't a formal project or process, but I think maybe it can shed some light into how the group has evolved even just since I've been involved. And really over the last, it's already been mentioned that we face some challenges during the pandemic with meeting and creating momentum and that sort of thing. And I think that even to say that we were able to keep the commission a functioning entity within the broader ecosystem of the city, was somewhat of an accomplishment throughout that time. So we've certainly had a number of things that we've done, discussed, put together. We've been able to bring content to different events, have representation to different events. But I think that everybody on the line here definitely deserves kudos for sticking with the group. There's been a lot of change over the last two and a half years. And the fact that we're all here now with almost a completely full screen of folks interested to join with us is something that I can say that I'm proud of for sure.
[Munir Jirmanus]: I mean, I can add a little bit to that. I mean, traditionally, the Human Rights Commission has always worked on the Martin Luther King celebration. And we've done that. before the pandemic where everybody was helping out in person. And then we tried to do that sort of, you know, work on that during the pandemic, although it was a challenge. We've also, during the pandemic, there was a large City, whole city meeting that the Human Rights Commission kind of co-sponsored with the city to have a conversation about discrimination in Medford. And that involved a meeting of about, there were like 240 people on Zoom in that meeting. I don't know if any of you were, happened to be in that meeting. But that was an incredible discussion where people were split into 15 rooms and they discussed various issues that some of the people there had experienced. And we spent the next several months in the Human Rights Commission trying to highlight those issues and bring discussion to see how and if we were able to address them or if the city were able to address them.
[Unidentified]: So these were just a couple of things that come to mind. Thank you, Munir.
[Frances Nwajei]: And no worries, Jamie, got your message. Thank you for joining us. All right, Jacqueline and then Johnny.
[Jenny Graham]: Thank you. My question is more around just like accessibility. During the pandemic sort of you mentioned some of the challenges. especially kind of, you know, going all remote. How have you sort of thought about human rights when thinking about, you know, some of those people that might have challenges getting onto a Zoom, sort of, you know, those older folks, or, you know, maybe they don't have accessibility to a computer. How have you worked through some of those challenges and been able to engage with them in the past couple of years?
[Munir Jirmanus]: Frankly, we've been remiss on that. But you're right to point it out.
[Frances Nwajei]: So, and accessibility is a really big thing. I can't speak to how it was done before, but I know that these recordings, right, actually get played on channel 22. And channel 43. I think that I believe those are the two channels. Maybe I've reversed the numbers. So there is that opportunity for people who may still be reliant on television, right? to get their information. Again, it's not real time. So when we get to the stage where we say, okay, open for public participation, still, those individuals are left behind. And I think it's a conversation that we have to keep having, we have to keep engaging in. The whole another population that's left behind, right? Population that does not utilize spoken language, utilizes a visual language, do not read English the same way that we do. still need to have the conversation to continue to increase broadening and meeting the need. And it's not just with the Human Rights Commission, it's with, you know, who we say we are as a city when we really talk about creating that space. I can't remember who said it. Someone said it so well, that space where you come to Medford and you just know, yeah, you belong, no questions asked. I can't remember who said it. earlier on during the introduction. That's really what belonging means. Belonging is different from inclusion. Belonging is not having to worry about, can I go to that store? Can I go to that restaurant? Can I ride my mobile device down on the sidewalk, even though we have outdoor dining? It's never having to think about those things. But just knowing that you can do it, because that space is created for you. All right, so we got Johnny and Merland.
[SPEAKER_16]: Yeah. Many of us who live in Medford may work elsewhere, and many people who live elsewhere work in Medford. The city of Medford is connected to the surrounding towns and other cities. I wondered whether there are other commissions in other towns or cities, or is there any? Do you come together with other groups from other cities and towns and talk about the issues which affect all of us or not?
[Munir Jirmanus]: I can address that because I've had some experience with that, although recently I haven't been part of it. But there is a group, which is the Mass Human Rights Commission, and they meet once a month. Again, we used to meet in person. As a matter of fact, we used to meet right here in Medford. but then during the pandemic it's been on Zoom and they typically meet and discuss their activities on the second Friday of each month at 9 a.m. and if anyone is interested and everybody is welcome to you know, join in and participate in these meetings. If anyone is interested, I can send the link, usually the Zoom link, I can send it to Frances and, you know, let Frances know that you're interested. The Medford Human Rights Commission has not been actively involved in those meetings recently, I would say in the past year and a half. I just, you know, occasionally drop in, but because of my grand children duties, it's a tough time for me to meet at 9am. on Friday, so I usually just access their notes, but they have a large mailing list and they mail it to everybody. So that's the long winding answer to your question.
[Frances Nwajei]: Thank you so much for providing that information, Muneer. In the chat, I have put the link, and for those who are not able to view chat, it is www, www.mahrc.info. So www.mahrc.info. That will take you directly to the coalitions page. All right. Chief, you look like you want to say something. I was just about to call them.
[Jack Buckley]: I do, but I didn't know if you wanted to call and you can you can ask a question and I'll I'll respond.
[Frances Nwajei]: OK. All right. Please go ahead. Sorry.
[MCM00001350_SPEAKER_04]: All righty. Thank you, everyone. So my question was very similar to Johnny. really what other organization are we involved with within the other cities and also, you know, at a state level as well. And second piece to the question will be, you know, in what instance should a resident, you know, expect to see, like, the Human Rights Commission involved? You know, and, you know, I'm just trying to understand in what instance, you know, such an organization like that will be called and then what cases will be evaluated and stuff like that.
[Frances Nwajei]: Anybody want to take that or are you deferring?
[Joan Cyr]: Judy, did you chuckle at me? I don't think I understand the question. The second part.
[MCM00001350_SPEAKER_04]: The second piece is that, you know, as a resident of Medford, right? We know this organization exists, right? And some residents like me probably don't know it even exists. What I'm trying to say, in what circumstances should a resident be expected to see or have the Human Rights Commission involved?
[Joan Cyr]: Involved?
[MCM00001350_SPEAKER_04]: Yes. In one instance.
[Joan Cyr]: I think that's a challenge that we have to face in the coming months, starting with a report from the St. Bedford Committee. I think it's true. We don't necessarily have a presence in the community. When there used to be a lot of in-person events, we would have a table. You know, there are some now and there are some in-person events, but yeah, I think that our visibility in the community is a serious challenge and
[Unidentified]: It's almost as if the... I think that the whole... Right.
[Joan Cyr]: The whole commission will need to really... Oops, sorry, that was an accident. Will really need to be thinking about that. What do people know about us?
[Unidentified]: Oh, a lot of people don't know about us. Judy, did I, did we lose you?
[Joan Cyr]: And how would we make our presence known in a way that fulfills our mission? I mean, we should be very visible, I think, in the community, but that is, you know, we have to think through the operationally, you know, how do we make ourselves visible? So I think that's a good question.
[Frances Nwajei]: I think also clarifying for people what it means to be a human rights commission for a municipality or even a state level. You know, people, many people hear human rights and some of the calls I receive really more or less belong to organizations like Amnesty International. So it's, yes, we have the ordinance, but a nice, simple, clarifying statement could go a long way to help us create our identity. And to help people better understand who the Human Rights Commission is for Medford and what the Human Rights Commission does. And it's funny because the Human Rights Commission actually does a lot. Now remember, I've only been here in March, but I can actually name all the different things that members of the commission supported in the six months that I've been here. But it may not appear that way, because it's not like, oh, there's a banner, or t-shirts, or swag, or things of that nature. Thank you. Any of the commissioners want to take that, or our honorary commissioner? Steve, I feel like you're an honorary commissioner. I want to add to that, chief.
[Jack Buckley]: Well, I think I'd like to just add a few comments here that first thing that I'm really excited about is that we have nine people who've come tonight to the to have us express their interest in being part of the Human Rights Commission and additionally. kind of the thing that excites me more than is the ideas and the questions that you're asking. So to be honest with you, you ask a lot of good questions and we pause and we hesitate we spent a large part of the past year, struggling with what our identity is as a human rights commission. and trying to define our role, our place, even as nitty gritty as, you know, how do we break up into subcommittees and without violating open meeting laws. And it's been a small group and in my four years now, I don't think we've ever had nine commissioners, we have the ability now to reach out to that and, and change this and You're, you represent that change to us coming here tonight, and that's what I'm really happy about and even though we can't, you know, rattle off a whole bunch of a lot of the things, the hope is that what this is the first step to making the human rights, more visible, more actionable sort of organization in a group. And so there's a lot of hope in what you bring to us tonight. And we are a commission that's working hard and trying to do certain things, but maybe we're not as visible as we need. I'm telling you, we've recognized that and we're trying to find solutions to that. And the hope is that you can be on the ground floor of changing that with us. And so I think by way of that may help answer some of the questions that we're looking for. We're hoping for a new Human Rights Commission, some change and some excitement moving forward. And if you have that energy and you want to be part of it, we're very, very happy to see you all here tonight. So I know they didn't answer a specific question, but I thought it would just be important to say.
[Munir Jirmanus]: Well said, Jack. One thought that comes to my mind at least is that there is always the possibility of requesting that the number of commissioners be much larger than nine, in which case a lot more people can get involved.
[Unidentified]: Yeah, absolutely.
[Frances Nwajei]: Thank you, Chief. Thank you, Muneer, Steve.
[Steve Schnapp]: Just quickly, I really support what Chief Buckley and Munir has just said. This is an interesting time for so many committed folks to express interest in joining the commission. Quite frankly, it's been a difficult period during the pandemic. for the commission to do its work for a variety of reasons, the pandemic being a big one, but there were others. And it's been very difficult to do what the HRC has done in the past or to do new things or to be responsive to what the community wants with too few members engaged fully. It's exciting to see so many gifted people and committed Medford residents who wanna participate in this. And I think you've come at the right time. Neil Osborne used to say all the time, the commission is what the commission is make of it. There are constraints, but the commissioners can push against those constraints. So it's up to the members of this body to really decide the future of the commission. This subcommittee that I'm on and others are on will offer recommendations. So I think you've come at a great time, but it is a time of flux. You have to bear with uncertainty for a certain amount of time. And You know, my hope is that your energy that I've seen here tonight and the experience that you have, the passion that you have for these issues can really be harnessed and used by the HRC to address the big issues that we face as a city. So I'm excited and I think it's gonna be hard work for the next several months. But just looking at you and seeing the work that several folks have done, particularly Francis, to recruit people is very encouraging. And I know the commissioners who've been here are very excited to see a great group of people. And I'm just hoping we can hang in there It's not gonna happen overnight. Many of us are learning how to do this. We're new to the city or new to this work or new to a quasi city kind of body. But I'm just hopeful and thankful to see you all.
[Unidentified]: Okay, I guess I'll ask Judy.
[Joan Cyr]: Um, yeah, I agree. And then we have two additional people. So I, I think it's, it's the start of a new era for the Medford human rights commission. Um, I would be interested if in, um, Going in hearing about and understanding better the process that we're going to use to, um, name the five people. Who will join. So I guess that's it. Yeah.
[Frances Nwajei]: Yeah, so certainly I mean it's discussed over, you know, several meetings. What was important for me was to make sure that if we have vacancies on any commission, right. I'm reviewing. applicants, right? Like somebody, because the applications don't come to me. So somebody needs to say, Francis, X number of people have applied. So what happened was I was just asking randomly, like, how come the Human Rights Commission just can't be full? Where are these applicants? And I was like, received a pile of applications. some dating too far back to appear serious in any way, shape or form. And that was disappointing to me. And I says, okay, so I came on in March, I want anything that started from January of this year. anybody that sent in. And some people sent in to multiple commissions. So it's not just some people applied to human rights. I'm just going to say a liquor commission, environmental commission, you know, and that is fine. But I just pulled the ones that were relevant. And I believe that there were about 17 of them. And we've been we've had this conversation over multiple months, you know, how is this decision made. I don't see this as my decision I see any committee needs to be reflective of what that committee is supposed to do to Human Rights Commission. is for the city of Medford. It needs to be reflective of Medford. Medford's voice, Medford's needs. Not one person, it's not political, it is helping to move Medford along. And I have actually asked, where are our youth voices? Now remember, I don't have municipal experience, I came from the state. And it's like, oh, they were working on a youth ordinance or something. And then, you know, we all know what happens with the corona visiting and, you know, upending everything. But I presented to you all that I would like to invite people, I think that applicants need to have an opportunity to express their interest, to share about their passion, to meet, to attend a couple of meetings, see how these meetings are. And then commissioners need the opportunity to say, yes, we've been given new breath. Yes, you know this person is going to be great for this vacancy because when we look at us, you know, none of us, you know, have the skill set in this area in everywhere I go somebody says this is a need. And that's a conversation that you have and you make recommendations, not the final decision maker. I take those recommendations and I present them to the mayor. But I cannot, um, yeah, I don't think that we, how it was explained to me how it was done before I will just say did not sit right with me. That's not how a committee is comprised. I told you I do things a little differently. You know, this is, I mean, I came from human rights. This is a passion. Human rights is very, very broad. The person that I thought that I wanted to be 20 years ago is very different from the person that I am today, you know, and that changes and that evolves. And committees like this are essential in helping with that evolution and showing us areas. I mean, this committee was a great support for me. Imagine coming to a new town and now, don't live here. And everybody wasn't nice. But I had members of this committee to reach out to or who invited me to different places, or who said, hey, do you know, this is happening. So you will make your recommendations. I mean, there was 17 people who all received the email. Commissioners, correct me if I'm wrong. I think in the email I sent to you, two people were no longer available because one moved out of town and the other person actually started taking classes that unfortunately meets at this time. You know, and then everybody else received the information to notified me by email this stuck at work could not get out of work. And the others. Nine people showed up today. So we will have another meeting but it will be up to you commissioners to. make your suggestions for the spots. And if you also remember I spoke concurrently about taking a look at our ordinance just because something has been done the same way, does not mean it has to continue. You know, I am willing to, you know, book that time with city council but we need to be able to say, Hi, These are the challenges that we have faced. And we think that by making these amendments, it is going to improve, but we can't do it on a one-off. It has to be something concrete and something foundational.
[Joan Cyr]: Well, I just want to say, in my earlier years on the commission, when we would have a slot for a new commissioner, we would actually, Neil Osborne, who was in, as everyone knows, Francis's position before, would select somebody if we had two or three openings he would select exactly that number of people and invite them to join the meetings for a couple meetings and then we would invariably welcome them to the commission. So this is a different process where we have more people than we have slots for. So I feel a little bit at sea about how, you know, we're going to make those decisions because every meeting that we have has to be an open meeting, which is
[Frances Nwajei]: And we can make those decisions as part of an open meeting. I mean, as somebody who comes from really about DEI, there is no equity in me selecting. I'm selecting based on my thought. My thought is not the thought of Medford. My job is to help Medford move forward. And so I cannot embody things and experiences and practices that I know are not going to yield the best result. What am I selecting based on? I'm not saying that it's wrong, but I personally couldn't stand by that. 17 people applied. Who am I? One person that still needs their GPS to get around Medford, unless you're talking about a restaurant. Okay, I can find every good restaurant in Bedford, right? To say, all right, commissioners, I'm giving you this. It is, we're talking about equitable and inclusive spaces and inclusive voices. You know, when I saw, I said it was like a warm hug logging in and seeing everybody. I genuinely meant that from the bottom of my heart. And for me, if, everyone can't be a commissioner. I think that we need to rethink some of the way we do business. What is wrong with having friends of the commission? Like who says, I want to help and we say, no, thank you.
[Unidentified]: I mean and hearing the broad based ideas.
[Frances Nwajei]: I have, I have a state counterpart here I have someone on here that still works for the state is that you Diana is it Rebecca, I'm.
[Rebecca Davidson]: Yeah, that would be me.
[Frances Nwajei]: Rebecca, that's you. So I don't know if you will recall the term. We do first and ask for forgiveness later. It's kind of how there's an end goal. It's really about bringing the community together. Diversity is so much more. It's beyond just race. I mean, it's about the housing crisis. There is a housing crisis, there is a debt crisis, it is all those things, and all those things affect equity. They actually affect the health of a community. You know, so hearing all the skill sets that people bring in, that people lend, it's huge, huge. And I heard a couple of individuals speak about working on, was it health equity and food sustainability, and I could be making it up, pardon me, which is equally important as we are moving towards our restaurants, utilizing the SNAP benefits. which when you think about it, it's just a simple human act, it's just a simple human function. Just because you receive benefits does not mean that you always, or you even have a stove in which to cook on, or the ability to cook. You know, so as, you know, the prospective candidates were all speaking, and I, you know, I was remembering meeting, you know, you commissioners for the first time and stuff. I just said, well, it's got to be, it's got to be a difficult decision. You know, think fast, Frances, what else can you do that won't get you into trouble? But I'm probably already in trouble. But, you know, there's nothing wrong, we can always propose and say, Too many wonderful applicants to choose from. Is it all right if we have a friends group? So keep that in mind. So we are at one minute to seven. Did anybody else have anything that they wanted to add? All right, I have to quickly open it up for public participation. I don't know if there's anybody on. Anybody from the public? All right, commissioners, I'm gonna turn it over to you to do your thing. I can only sub for Shelley up to a certain point.
[Munir Jirmanus]: Okay, motion to adjourn. Thank you, everybody.
[Frances Nwajei]: Second.
[Jack Buckley]: I second it, and thank you all for attending. It was great. I appreciate everything.
[Frances Nwajei]: Thank you. Thank you all. Thank you, everyone. Bye, everybody. Nice to meet you all. An email.
[Amanda Centrella]: Bye. Thank you, everyone.
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