Call to Order

Commissioner David Leshtz, Chair, called meeting to order.

Roll Call

Present were Commissioner David Leshtz, Commissioner Tim Tutt, Commissioner Maria Waterman via ICN, and Commissioner Alicia Claypool via conference phone. Also present were Corlis Moody, Executive Director, Ron Pothast, Business Manager and Araceli Goode, Executive Secretary.

Recognition of Public and Press

Commissioner David Leshtz welcomed and thanked Ed O’Leary, Executive Director of the Fort Dodge Human Rights Commission for hosting the meeting, and the other members of the community present at this time. No press was present.

Approval of Minutes

Motion was made by Commissioner Alicia Claypool and seconded by Commissioner Maria Waterman to approve the April 11, 2002 Commissioners’ Meeting Minutes. The motion passed unanimously.

Commissioners’ Report and Sub-Committee Reports

Commissioner Alicia Claypool - Has been asked to be on the advisory council for Iowa Immigration Project, which will deal with anti-immigration issues. The IIP is being organized by the Chicago-based Center for New Communities and is funded with a grant from the Ford Foundation. CNC is a midwestern organization that monitors hate groups. Their first meeting will be in June

Commissioner Waterman - No report

Commissioner Tutt - Central Campus engagement was postponed until the Fall. Will speak at the Quad Diversity Meeting in the Unitarian Church a week from today at 7:30 PM.

Commissioner Leshtz - Distributed copies of his letter that appeared in the Spectrum section of the Des Moines Register on April 14 regarding sexual orientation in school policies.

Sub-Committee Reports

Sexual Orientation Forum Committee Report by Commissioner Alicia Claypool

Co-Chairs: Commissioners Alicia Claypool and Maria Waterman

Action: First meeting held April 23. Other individuals and organizations are being contacted to be participants. Several ideas were discussed regarding the method of conducting this effort to inform the community about this issue, the location and the date. More details will be available after the next meeting once participants are committed and ideas formulated into action plans.

Executive Director’s Report

Executive Director Corlis S. Moody informed the Commissioners of the EEOC Conference she attended April 29 through May 1 in San Antonio, TX.

She also attended the Upper Midwest Regional Conference: Building Inclusive Communities held May 2 and 3 at the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, sponsored by the Network of Alliances Bridging Race and Ethnicity, a program of the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies. Iowa Civil Rights Commission was a partner in organizing the conference. The purpose of the regional conference was to initiate a regional network of organizations that work on race relations and racial justice issues. The conference provided an opportunity to learn from others and strengthen the effectiveness of organizations by sharing information and building relationships. Attendees participated in skill-building workshops, shared success stories and discussed challenges, learned about promising practices and lessons learned, and engaged in networking with other professionals working on race-related issues.

Ron Pothast gave a Legislative Update. He also discussed the potential impact on the funding for the Iowa Civil Rights Commission of the reductions in the state revenue forecasts for FY 2002 and FY 2003 that had been made on May 7, 2002 by the Revenue Estimating Council.

Old Business

No Old Business discussed.

New Business

Members of The Webster County Diversity Committee, Daryl Beall and Linda Von Bank, did a presentation regarding the "Sample Diversity. Celebrate Unity", a Food Fest held September 15, 2001 in conjunction with their annual Fall Fest, to highlight and provide a sampling of the ethnic groups and their ethnicities that exist in Fort Dodge and surrounding areas. The event was considered a great success and has been planned to take place again this year on September 21, 2002. Mr. Beall distributed a copy of articles written by him touching on the Fall Fest of 2001 and diversity in Fort Dodge.

Dan Payne, Executive Director of the Convention and Visitors Bureau spoke regarding the Model Cities Project. The mission was to develop a model that other communities in Iowa could use to welcome new Iowans to their community to live and work. They targeted 5 areas in their planning - New Iowans, Citizens with Disabilities, Seniors in the Workplace, Former Residents, and Retaining Youth. Their goals were job creation, population growth, utilization of present workforce, retraining and job advancement, better wages, invite former residents to return, keeping youth home, supporting education systems, keeping seniors in the workforce, and bringing citizens with disabilities into the workforce. The committee produced a Workforce 2010 - Report to the Citizens 2002 pamphlet describing all this information, which will be distributed to the community as soon as money from the Model Cities Project is released to pay for the printing.

Next Meeting Date

Next meeting date and location:

June 9, 2002, 10:00 AM in Davenport.

Adjournment

The meeting adjourned at 11: 30 AM.

Amendment: The June 09, 2002 Commissioner’s Meeting was moved to June 27, 2002 at the Iowa Civil Rights Commission’s office.

Minutes submitted by Araceli Goode, Executive Secretary