[Frances Nwajei]: Hello everyone, welcome to the October, oh my goodness, where has time gone, 2023 meeting for the United Nations Human Rights Commission. I know that Commissioner Curley is out of the country right now, so will more than likely not be joining us this evening. And Commissioner Deleuze should be joining us shortly. I'm Frances Marché, DEI Director. And I'm just going to go over how my screen looks. I'll go over to YouTube.
[Jack Buckley]: Hi, Chief Jack Buckley, met the chief for five years, police officer in the city, 26 years going on. How is everybody? Sorry, I am in a remote location tonight. I'm enjoying it. So hopefully I keep my services, but welcome.
[MCM00001269_SPEAKER_04]: I'm Diane McDonald, 10 year resident of West Medford. And in November, I will have been on the commission a year and it's just been really great. Has it been that long? Wow. Yeah, last November was my first meeting.
[MCM00001269_SPEAKER_06]: Wow.
[MCM00001269_SPEAKER_04]: Felt like five or six months though. Gone quick.
[Frances Nwajei]: All right, wow. Rob, just waiting for you to introduce yourself.
[MCM00001269_SPEAKER_08]: I'm sorry about that. I didn't even hear. Rob Klein, I've been on the commission for now, I think it's actually been about three or maybe even three and a half years. I've been in Medford now for nine years, which I can't believe. But yeah, excited to be back on the call. My apologies that I missed the last call. I am unfortunately going to have to drop a couple minutes early today, but I'll stay on for just as long as I can.
[Frances Nwajei]: Okay, fantastic. Thank you, Rob and Steph.
[SPEAKER_03]: Hi, everyone. My name is Steph and I have just recently joined the commission. So this is my 2nd meeting and I have been a Medford resident with my wife and our 2 dogs for 1 year.
[Frances Nwajei]: And Steve.
[Steve Schnapp]: Oh, thank you. Steve snap. I am not a commissioner. Medford resident. Since 2011, and retired, but a long time volunteer with the HRC.
[Frances Nwajei]: Thank you, Steve. Right, so. I think that we should jump ahead of the schedule until Commissioner DeLuz joins us. I just wanted to make sure everybody got the email that I sent with the timelines, because if we are going to put something on paper for the International Human Rights Day, as we had mentioned, the senior centre would need it no later than the 13th of November to make sure it could go into their into their newsletter and we'd have to get it to City Council no later than the 28th of November. Does everybody still feel comfortable working on putting something together? And it can just be wonderful. And it can just be like a simple, you know, sometimes I feel like short and sweet is to the point. You know, I would say just remember when we're putting literature out, best practice says it needs to be at a sixth grade reading level so that it can be understood by the majority of the public. And there is an app. It's called the Hemming app. that we can plug the information into, you know, to make sure that it can be as broadly understood as possible. Anyone have any thoughts on how to get started on this fabulous letter?
[MCM00001269_SPEAKER_04]: Yeah, I don't know when Maureen coming back. I know she had volunteered and I remember writing in the minutes stuff that you volunteered as well. I'm happy to help as well. I could serve as the editor of the draft and maybe run it through the Hemings app, but if Maureen's not back in time, I'm happy to also help write it. So, but it looks like we have, you know, we have to have it submitted before the next meeting. So I'm just thinking about the flow because I remember when we worked, when Rob was working on some stuff last year, the flow was Rob did the work, sent it to Francis, you were kind of the mediator, right? But I think if we could just get the flow and the timing down, that would be helpful. Did we lose Francis?
[SPEAKER_03]: Has there been a template in the past or an example to kind of go off of?
[MCM00001269_SPEAKER_04]: Oh, you're muted, Francis.
[Frances Nwajei]: The universe is way of telling me to keep quiet. I don't know if there is an example because I haven't seen one, and I haven't really done much research. I mean, I guess we could Google one. I know that a couple of the things that I looked into came up as dead ends. I tried to look into the events that happens at the state house, and it hasn't happened in a couple of years. The last piece of information that I found was from like pre-pandemic. But I am in contact with Adam over at the Mass Human Rights Coalition, and we do have a meeting coming up. I'm wondering if, I think it's really more of an acknowledgement letter that, you know, maybe the commission, you know, sort of like would be writing like an, or an acknowledgement statement, or some acknowledgement phrases, right? Yeah, so those are my thoughts. And, you know, we definitely do have to meet the deadlines and those occur before the next meeting. And, I mean, I would like to have the information to Pam ahead of time because she also needs to think about spacing. I'm all right if, you know, three people decide that they want to. So that would be Diane, Steph and Maureen. I think Maureen comes back to 16. I think that's what Maureen said. You know, if you three want to do, you know, work on the letter, but just send it amongst yourselves. You can CC me so that would keep Chief, Rob and Immacula out of the loop. And if that's fine with them, that's fine with me. And then when you just send me the final draft, I can just, as I say, send it to print, but you know what I mean? Send it to everybody saying, hey, this is what we have. I'll make sure that it's on the letterhead. You know, I think that that's something that you can all agree on. Or Rob, I don't know if you want to, you know, if you have some thoughts.
[MCM00001269_SPEAKER_08]: Yeah, I'm happy to participate. I know it's a little bit challenging with the open meeting rules, because the context have to go one to one. But maybe Diane, yeah, if you want to send it my way, and then I can either bounce it back to you or continue the chain on to Francis from there. Whatever you think is best.
[Frances Nwajei]: IRH, great. And I will, you know, I mean, I think that what's really sad is that we won't have the opportunity for, you know, your own, your wet signature. But usually, I think it's always nice when, instead of just writing, you know, commissioners of, you know, members of the Human Rights Commission, you know, writing your actual name and, you know, commissioning your actual name and commissioners. All right, so we'll do that. I think that that will be great. So what I can do is I can work on making sure that Pam reserves some space for us. I will also work on figuring out other avenues that we can get this into. I'm anticipating that it wouldn't be more than half a page. Right. Right. You know, so I'm thinking, you know, could we, you know, could we get this into, you know, into the patch or something of that event? I don't know what the process would be, but so, yeah. So that's my thought. Right.
[MCM00001269_SPEAKER_04]: So, so timeline, I'm looking at the calendar. do we wanna have a draft in place by say the October 27th and try to sign off on it by November 3rd? Everyone?
[Frances Nwajei]: I like that idea. October 27th, that's almost three weeks away. It's two and a half weeks. I like that idea. So that come that if, if come the third, you know, something doesn't happen. We have a little bit of cushioning. I like that idea. Okay.
[MCM00001269_SPEAKER_04]: Yeah, with the goal of finalizing it so that the city can have plenty of time by the 3rd, but we have that cushion if we need it.
[Frances Nwajei]: Right. Because if we finalize by the 3rd, which is a Friday, we can bring everything to the meeting on the 8th for the final vote. Or not vote, which is so that everybody can be aware. And then once you say yes, boom, I can get it out to Pam. I can even get Pam the draft, right? And say this is, you know, this is how much space we'll need. And then I'll just, okay. And if I poke around and I come across anything that is similar to what we're talking about, I'll be sure to share it with everyone.
[MCM00001269_SPEAKER_04]: So, so I'm just remembering from the last meeting hearing Maureen say first, she would volunteer to help write the draft and then I heard Steph say that, you know, second, so you want me to help serve as an editor, do you, Steph, do you want to work with Maureen on the writing or?
[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, I think, I think any, Participations welcome, I think, waiting till maybe Maureen gets back. And as Frances or maybe Diane, one of you alluded to, like, we can start a smaller email chain just to kind of hit those milestones. I agree, Diane, with the dates that you gave. And so I being like the first time that I'm doing this, I welcome the support and participation of others as well to kind of like coach me along the way. So I'm cool with that and happy to send out an initial kind of email after this with Maureen copied on it and see if we can get the ball rolling understanding she's still out of the country as well.
[MCM00001269_SPEAKER_04]: Sounds great. Perfect. And then after I edit getting it over to Rob for feedback too.
[Frances Nwajei]: Nice. Oh, that's wonderful. Thank you so much. Thank you. All right. So let's go backwards and go and have a look at the September meeting minutes.
[MCM00001269_SPEAKER_04]: I will confess I found two typos that I didn't fix, so.
[Frances Nwajei]: It's okay, I fixed them. I fixed something and then I realized today that wait a second, the date is wrong, so I just fixed that now. Okay. That's the human. Okay. So somebody would need to make a motion to approve the minutes and somebody would need to make a motion to accept the minutes.
[MCM00001269_SPEAKER_04]: Motion to approve.
[aBgYkA4WX0I_SPEAKER_08]: Motion to accept.
[MCM00001269_SPEAKER_06]: Motion to accept. I'm sorry I'm late, a little bit late because I'm driving to them. I was outside.
[Frances Nwajei]: Okay. Well, I, you know, I, I really appreciate you being here, but I really prefer that you are safe. So if you want to go off the camera so that you can focus on the road and just listen, that is fine as well, but it's, I, I'm, you know, I don't want you to feel like you have to be able to see us.
[MCM00001269_SPEAKER_06]: Okay.
[Frances Nwajei]: Thank you. All right. You're welcome. All right. Okay, D-E-I touchstone. Macula. Hello. Yeah. Is there a way that you can either pull over or maybe miss this meeting? Because she's, you know, I think it's one thing to listen while she's driving, but it's another thing to drive, listen, and have your camera on at the same time.
[MCM00001269_SPEAKER_06]: Okay. I just listen. I put my camera off and my voice off. I can listen.
[Frances Nwajei]: Thank you. All right, perfect. So next are touchstones. So I did have an opportunity to make sure that Rob and I checked in about the touchstones and Rob didn't at that time didn't have anything else to add and, you know, liked them as well as like everybody else. So I'm going to put them on screen and you will see, what will you see? You'll see the part that is in parentheses. This part, acknowledge others' lived experience. That was the addition that was suggested. So go ahead.
[MCM00001269_SPEAKER_04]: So I think that that it started out with acknowledge others lived experience. And then I think you added something to it that I typed up in the minutes that built it up a little bit. Do you mind, give me one second. I'm just opening up the minutes because I think that let's see, whoops. I don't know why that keeps talking that way. Give me one more minute.
[Frances Nwajei]: Oh, human rights is the recognition and respect of a person's dignity.
[MCM00001269_SPEAKER_04]: Yeah. So I have acknowledged others lived experience to promote human dignity.
[Frances Nwajei]: So human dignity. All right.
[MCM00001269_SPEAKER_04]: which I thought was really nice.
[Frances Nwajei]: Let me make that change now. Does everyone feel that that's actually that, you know, that is like in the right space? Or do you think it should be moved? All right, so if you would like to adopt the DEI touchstones, the HRC touchstones, somebody would need to make a motion to adopt these as your touchstones and somebody would need to Second that motion.
[MCM00001269_SPEAKER_04]: Do you mind if I interrupt real quick because remember our last meeting and I'm sorry it sounds like a zoo here. And remember we talked about if we're putting emotion on the floor we were going to invite. That's right, that's right. So, yeah, we do that.
[Frances Nwajei]: Yes, yes, thank you go right ahead see takes the village. Does anybody have any members of the public like to add to this motion?
[Steve Schnapp]: Just what I put in the notes about this very issue. So perhaps the touchstones should reflect that, which is when taking a vote, When there's a vote on the floor, there's opportunity for members of the public to speak on the motion.
[Frances Nwajei]: Thank you, Steve. That's actually acknowledged in the meeting minutes. That was why Diane reminded me. We made mention of that, that that was how we were going to go moving forward. Touchstones serve for something very different. They're more or less like a code of conduct to expected behavior in the space that one comes into. Does that make sense? I'm taking it from the DEI and MH world, basically.
[Steve Schnapp]: So these touchstones don't preclude that?
[Frances Nwajei]: No, they don't preclude that. These are touchstones that we would read during the meeting, at the start of the meeting, such as when you're welcoming into the space. And I do believe I can actually stop sharing this for a minute and pull up the meeting minutes because the meeting minutes specifically address this issue or this situation, which was that if there was a motion on the floor, members of the public would be given an opportunity to speak to that motion. before the committee went to vote. I believe that's how it's stated, but let me just double check and pull that out.
[Steve Schnapp]: That's fine for me, thank you.
[aBgYkA4WX0I_SPEAKER_08]: If there aren't any other thoughts, a motion to approve as is?
[MCM00001269_SPEAKER_04]: Seconded.
[Frances Nwajei]: I think it's all in this section where it says public comments, yeah.
[MCM00001269_SPEAKER_04]: It's at the end of that public comments paragraph, like the last two sentences, spell it out. Francis summed up the approach. So there will always be a couple points, public comments.
[Frances Nwajei]: I will now turn it over to the commissioners to decide on the DEI touchstones before I take off the draft watermark. Someone would need to make a motion.
[MCM00001269_SPEAKER_04]: I think Rob did just a minute ago.
[MCM00001269_SPEAKER_08]: Sorry about that. To speak into the microphone. If there's no other edits to be made a motion to approve touchstones as they stand.
[MCM00001269_SPEAKER_04]: Seconded.
[Frances Nwajei]: All right, fantastic. Let me take off the draft, pardon me, whilst I go on mute. Maybe Diane, I can turn it over to you for any update that you might have on the calendar.
[MCM00001269_SPEAKER_04]: Okay, so I'll just open the calendar so that we can, I'll share my screen first. Oh, you have to enable screen sharing, Frances. How's that? Okay, great, perfect, thank you. Let's see. Let me just open up the calendar. Okay, can everybody see this? Great. So I know that a number of us have been at events in the last month trying to recruit. I feel hopeful that we had some folks at the Hispanic Heritage Festival. I think it was last week or the week before it was a lot of fun. So what we have coming up this weekend are the Sarah Bradley Fulton Day event at the Salem Street Burying Ground, and then the Harvester Energy Festival at the Andrews School, which should be great opportunities if we wanna bring the cards and meet people to get the word out. There's a Halloween Fest and pumpkin float at Wright's Pond. I don't know if that would be an event to attend, but there's an opportunity there. I'm going to add in our milestone dates on work on International Human Rights Day Letter of Acknowledgement. I'll add that later. And we just approved the touchstones. I think maybe next month we should start talking about what we want to do in January for MLK Day and Black History Month. Unless you want, you know, so because Maureen will be with us unless anyone has thoughts to share now.
[MCM00001269_SPEAKER_08]: That sounds about right here. I think it gives it gives us enough lead time to get something together like we did last go around.
[MCM00001269_SPEAKER_04]: Okay, perfect. And then I looked at the city calendar and November looks pretty light. So I think we have our marching orders on the you know, our letter of acknowledgement for Human Rights Day. And is anyone planning on attending any of these upcoming events?
[SPEAKER_03]: I hope to be at the Harvester Energy Festival on Saturday, I believe it is. And Allison and I went to the disability fair last weekend as well.
[MCM00001269_SPEAKER_04]: Oh, nice. I was there also and somehow I didn't see you so maybe, hopefully I'll get to see you at the Harvester Energy Festival. That was all me, Diane.
[Frances Nwajei]: Steph introduced herself and her spouse, and I was in my head, I was like, oh, don't forget to connect with Diane. I have no idea what happened. I don't know what happened. I don't even know how I got home that night.
[MCM00001269_SPEAKER_04]: Oh, no. I thought that was an amazing event, and I was browsing the tables and just meeting so many of the people. I actually loved it. You know, I'm the big sister of an intellectually disabled brother. And so everything there just really resonated with my family and me. And, you know, one of my very young nephews was there. So brilliant, wonderful event, Francis.
[Frances Nwajei]: Thank you. So I hope that you will both have an opportunity to meet again. I'm opening this option to you, as I did to the Commission for Persons with Disabilities. If, you know, if somebody wants to do a hybrid and come hang out with me, you know, in my office. I just need, you know, I just need to know this so that the boxes aren't all over the place. And we can do it that way as well. I just don't have like the full owl contraption where we can have people in like multiple places. Diane, you can add October 19th to the calendar because there's a public hearing for the Charter Study Committee. That's happening here. So I will be in the, you know, I'll be in the building. It's usually from, the public hearing is usually from 6.30 to 8.30. So I'll be here anyway, so I could definitely, you know, do double duty.
[MCM00001269_SPEAKER_04]: Okay, I think that's great. And I think I just want to also point out to all of us because I noticed, sometimes the attendance at some events are on the lighter side so get the word on the street with all of your neighbors, your friends, your networks, your people, that these events are even happening, including that charter public hearing. Because I think the last time they had a big public hearing for the charter, I logged in on Zoom and there weren't that many people on Zoom. I think my expectations is, because it's so important, that it was just going to be loaded with people. And there weren't that many people. So just the more that probably help get the word out, you know, Medford is as good as we all make it when we come together.
[Frances Nwajei]: Definitely, I mean I just, it's a, it's an interesting situation because I'm just really, I'm the liaison so I explain it right and then people start asking me questions like no no no, you can't ask me questions I don't know it like that. Um, but I would, I would definitely love to see, you know, more people involved because it does affect this city. right, you know, and you don't want when a decision has been made to now feel that you weren't included because there has been plenty of opportunity. I've seen it through social media, crossing the Medford Pride page, and that's not even, you know, that's not my page, that's myself and four other community members. Right. So I've seen it in that regard as well. I've seen it, you know, on the flyering end and I know how much work has gone into making sure materials are translated. And, you know, going into intentional space, you know, going into spaces with intention and purpose. But the public hearing is on October 19. And then, I think this is the last public hearing before they move into the listening sessions, which are much smaller focus groups, right? And then I believe December 1st the survey shuts.
[MCM00001269_SPEAKER_04]: Yeah. Yeah, and it's a good survey. It's an easy survey. So if you haven't gone online to, you know, to take it, I think we all should.
[Frances Nwajei]: Stephanie has a question.
[SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, I was just curious if there's been in anybody's experience, like events that you participated in, maybe like not in Medford, but like a neighboring town with someone or like examples of things that have worked or don't work or historically has participation always been low in Medford or is there any benchmark to it?
[Frances Nwajei]: You know, it's a bit difficult for me to answer because I'm not from the city. But, you know, one thing I'll say is I liken this to music, right? If people don't know that I can sing, nobody's coming to my concert. So, it's, you know, how do you create your identity, how do you market yourself. And who are you, you know, it's those questions who are you and what are you doing. That's what people want to know. And you have to be able to communicate that in 25 seconds or less, in a really exciting way to grab people's attention. I've heard, Diane, you're not the first one that mentioned the low attendance with the charter study group. I've heard that because the city does not have a paper anymore, it used to have a physical paper. People don't get the message and don't get the information. I think When I first started, I would have given that more weight. But as somebody who, you know, sits here and is not from here and sees all the different avenues that are used to tap into people and who knows how much money I've spent in translating materials, I sometimes feel that it's a choice.
[MCM00001269_SPEAKER_04]: Hmm, that's interesting.
[Frances Nwajei]: And maybe, you know, sometimes we're all just too tired.
[MCM00001269_SPEAKER_04]: Yeah. And then I also think that, you know, the more events I've been attending, I just see such a treasure trove of resources, or even there's a monthly, you know, social services, I think, drop in at the live, like, I've been going through the literature I picked up, I had no idea you could get know, a social worker would be at the public library to help. So maybe we can make it a goal to, to help, just helps, you know, communities understand what really incredible resources are available, you know, you know, a good communications plan.
[Frances Nwajei]: We have like an insane and outstanding prevention and outreach department right now with the social work hours at the library, with our community liaisons and our community connectors speaking a multitude of different languages combined, right? Even though the hours that, because it is a grant funded position are minimal, But think about what it means when somebody has been through major trauma and they don't speak the language of the country that they are in by lack of choice. And to come across somebody that can actually say, don't worry or hello or how are you? Many towns don't have this. You know, we have, I mean, I learned a lot when, you know, working on the Disability Fair. I didn't know there was something called Smart 9-1-1. I didn't know that there was something like 9-1-1 indicators, you know, I'm all in a panic like, How are we going to get our vulnerable people out if there's a major, you know, if there's a major, you know me, Queen Worrywart, right? Worst case scenario, I have to go there. There is no, like, there's no graduality. It's just, you know, I'm in that moment. And realizing, like, my gosh, we've, we've got, like, what? We have all this. You know, I call them the red cards, but there's like a little packet that folks actually put in their homes. This was started by Captain Clemente like ages ago. Chief, I don't even know the proper name of it. I've just given them all my own nickname.
[Jack Buckley]: It's the file for life.
[Frances Nwajei]: There you go. But I mean, look at these resources that we have here. And how do we make sure that folks that are coming in to our community, whether it's a seizure disorder, right? Whether it's a, you know, what do you call it? Like a non-typical disability, such as an inability to sense temperature, which is dangerous for a multitude of reasons. The support is right there and right here.
[MCM00001269_SPEAKER_04]: Yeah. I would love for us to think about how we can just help disseminate that. And, you know, and I just feel like showing up at these events and just meeting so many people has just kind of been a joy. And, and I think people are more about listening to another person, sometimes it's a little bit easier than, you know, come look at all of these papers we have. Sometimes if you just say, hey, let me just tell you this in a fast elevator pitch, then it's just, wow.
[Frances Nwajei]: Yeah. Steve, would you like to share your thoughts?
[Steve Schnapp]: Sure, it's not more than what I just said. Thank you. Thank you for letting me do that. I just think we have a local election going on and I know that's taken a lot of energy from folks who are, I call them civic minded. So that may be making it a little difficult for you to recruit. I anticipate after November with whatever alignment we have for mayor, city council and school committee that there may be folks who might be interested, more interested then in committing some time and energy into the human rights commission. I'm not saying, you know, don't do it now, recruitment efforts, but you may see a boost in that after November, maybe even after the holidays.
[Frances Nwajei]: Yes, Steve. All right, Diane, anything else to add to the calendar? No. Oh, the calendar. So we'll just we'll just continue to work on build, you know, being out as much as possible on anything that is happening on city grounds, you know, when I'm around, I carry a big enough bag to put a few of those HRC cards in my back so you know I'm willing to do that. I will just put this out there that coming in on the weekend is less likely for me if it's not directly related to the role. I'm still trying to create healthy boundaries when people see me at events and they want to, you know, they want to speak to me and it's important for my own self to be fresh and like have that okay I'm just at this event to attend this event, versus always being on. Let's see what else is there. Oh, so I have I've taken the draft watermark off, I will make sure you everybody has a copy of the touchstones. So, is there any new business.
[MCM00001269_SPEAKER_04]: I think we'll bring up the new business on some upcoming events for the next meeting, unless anyone else has new business.
[Frances Nwajei]: Any announcements, any correspondence, anything anybody would like to share? Oh, Steve, you moved. You raised your hand and suddenly you moved.
[Steve Schnapp]: When you raise your hand, you get a privileged spot. I was just wondering, I was on a walk this morning through Medford Square and I noticed that on High Street, there's the Islamic Cultural Center. I think folks are aware of that. I noticed two windows, one on the ground floor, that was boarded up with plywood, one on the second floor that had sort of a tarp. And I know that tempers are very high right now because of what's going on in Israel and Palestine. I didn't know if there was an incident, and I guess I'm looking at the chief right now, just wondering if they're just doing some renovation or there's any reported incident.
[Jack Buckley]: There's no reported incident. I have no knowledge as to why it's like that, but I can tell you I've been in touch with the Islamic Cultural Center and paying close attention and giving them access if they have concerns and cares. So I don't have an answer as to why it's that way, but I can tell you that at this time, I have no knowledge of there being any incident there. That's good news.
[Steve Schnapp]: I hope it stays that way. And they're just doing some renovations. That's my hope.
[Jack Buckley]: Thank you. Difficult, crazy time.
[Frances Nwajei]: Anybody else?
[MCM00001269_SPEAKER_08]: I was just going to say, Steve, I'm not sure when the last time you walked by before yesterday or the day before was, but I think I noticed the same earlier last week. So it may have been a longer ongoing project, as you said, hopefully the case.
[Frances Nwajei]: Anything else? Well, I don't I don't have anything else to add. Our next meeting is on November 8th and you know at this point I'm able to gift you back an hour almost wait half an hour of your 20 uh 39 minutes of your lives um back if there is nothing else to add
[MCM00001269_SPEAKER_08]: I think in that case, then it's probably appropriate to put forth a motion to adjourn for this week.
[Jack Buckley]: I can say.
[Frances Nwajei]: Thank you, Chief. Oh, wait, we didn't do public participation, but Steve, it's just, you see, Steve, we're trying. I've got to keep, I've got to keep.
[Steve Schnapp]: No worries. I'm done. Thank you very much. Okay. All right.
[Frances Nwajei]: So motion to end by Rob. and seconded by Chief. All right, thank you, everyone. Thanks, everybody. See you in a couple of weeks. Enjoy the rest of your evening.