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HomeMy WebLinkAbout04/14/2022 REAC MEETING MINUTESBremerton Race Equity Advisory Committee – Minutes Thursday, April 14th, 6:00 p.m. via Zoom SERVING THIS MEETING Tech Host: Quinn Dennehy Tech Co-host: Jennifer Chamberlin Facilitator(s): Quinn Dennehy Land Acknowledgement Reader: Anna Mockler Timekeeper: Sarah van Gelder Notetaker: Airen Lydick Agenda Document Creator: Quinn Dennehy OUR PURPOSE o To advise the City Council, by applying a race equity analysis to all aspects of governance; and o To maintain engagement with and accountability to other work being done throughout the Bremerton Community in service of Race Equity. OUR VISION Bremerton Race Equity Advisory Committee envisions a City that: o Strives to continually dismantle its own institutional racism, within policies, programs, budgets, initiatives, legislation, systems, and infrastructure. o Amplifies and joins racially, culturally, and socially integrated community endeavors toward equity, well-being, and liberation for all; and o Aspires to model for the nation a City in which people of different races, ethnicities, and backgrounds can interact, form friendships, and participate fully in the community’s political, economic, educational, cultural, and civic endeavors. Attending: Council Members Quinn Dennehy (Chair), Jennifer Chamberlin (Vice Chair), and Anna Mockler. Community Members Airen Lydick, Sarah van Gelder, and Darryl Riley (arrived 7:04 PM) Absent: Community Member Glenna Matteson 1. Opening and Welcome a. The meeting was called to order at 6:07 p.m. b. The Suquamish Tribe’s land acknowledgement statement was read. c. The Bremerton Race Equity Advisory Committee’s purpose and vision were read. d. Bremerton REAC members introduced themselves. 2. Approval of This Meeting Agenda a. Anna had a question about a potential agenda item submitted to Quinn, who answered that it would be covered during discussion of successes and barriers of the past year. b. Airen noted that our April 28th Zoom meeting up with Bainbridge Island REAC had been left off of Old Business, and Quinn added it back on. c. The agenda was the approved. 3. Approval of Minutes Recent REAC Meetings a. December 9th, 2021 Minutes were approved unanimously. b. February 10th, 2022 - Previously approved at March 10 Meeting and need corrections. Tabled c. March 10th, 2022 - Tabled 4. Update on Bremerton City Council’s Activities a. Action Item Follow-up: Governmental Alliance on Race & Equity (GARE) Membership ▪ City of Bremerton is now officially a GARE Member. ▪ Quinn has gained access to the GARE Portal for Annual Meeting registration. ▪ Quinn asked who would like to attend the Annual Meeting. Bremerton Race Equity Advisory Committee – Minutes Thursday, April 14th, 6:00 p.m. via Zoom - Airen is no longer able to attend. It’s been too long waiting for the permission to register. - Airen asked Quinn to call Glenna, make sure she has chance to register. ▪ GARE Membership accesses requires a log-in by a jurisdictional email address. Quinn will find out if we are allowed to have one single email address that all committee members can use to log into the GARE Portal and access resources. ▪ Aside from the GARE Annual Meeting, there are many, many other ways to take advantage of GARE membership. They have regular meetings and webinars. Their website has a host of resources. 5. Our REAC’s First 18 Months - Successes, Barriers, Appreciations, Hopes SUCCESSES a. We on Bremerton REAC have heard from each other and gotten to know each other. b. One of our working teams (Business & New Economy) put on two forums i. Partnered with Kitsap Economic Development Alliance (KEDA) ii. Impacts of COVID-19 pandemic (and recovery programs) on BIPOC businesses iii. Asking how City of Bremerton can mitigate disparities iv. Raised awareness in broader business community about how they need to be thinking about disproportionate impacts on BIPOC businesses v. Helped create an atmosphere of encouraging the Charleston Business District organizing and revitalization being led by Faye Flemister. c. One of our working teams (Change The Power) put on “Getting To Racial Equity.” i. Heard from longtime leaders with experience working for race equity ii. Incorporated event attendees’ feedback via Zoom polling option iii. Ended with concrete recommendations and advice for City of Bremerton d. Extensive interviews with community leaders (Change The Power) i. In the fall and winter, Change The Power reached out to over 40 community leaders with experience working for race equity across multiple realms (business, nonprofit, grassroots efforts, foundations, neighborhoods, faith- based institutions, education, etc.) and ended up conducting 16 extensive interviews (in person, over the phone, through written form) Bremerton Race Equity Advisory Committee – Minutes Thursday, April 14th, 6:00 p.m. via Zoom ii. Built upon existing connections Bremerton REAC members had with community leaders working for race equity iii. Really a success of the community, coming forth to speak up once more, even though so many times their wisdom and advice has gone unheeded e. Building Ourselves as a Working Committee i. Darryl Riley helped the seven community members serving on Bremerton REAC to connect, get to know each other, understand what brought each of us to our roles on Bremerton REAC, and learn each other’s styles of working in a group BARRIERS a. Structural Foundation Lacking i. Lack of clarity of our own creation by City Council (Are we a City Council Committee? A Board? A Commission? What are our structural parameters?) b. Connection with City Council i. Not a full-throated City Council support during the creation of Bremerton REAC, which was a challenge at the start. ii. Lack of City Council actually accessing Bremerton REAC as an advisory body. iii. Lack of City Council interacting with our work (example: products of our 2021 March retreat) and making use of it. c. Connection with Mayor i. Unable, as of yet, to officially collaborate with the Mayor’s office ii. Work seems hampered by the fact that we cannot collaborate with Mayor. APPRECIATION & HOPES a. We didn’t get to these yet. ACTION STEPS a. Quinn makes sure Bremerton REAC members who want to attend the GARE Annual Meeting can get registered to do so. b. Bremerton REAC’s City Council members encourage others in City of Bremerton governance and infrastructure to attend GARE Annual Meeting. Quinn makes sure they can access the GARE Portal to register. c. Quinn will put together and send the following to the full Bremerton REAC: i. Resources from GARE ii. Mayor’s diversity and equity plan iii. Any other City of Bremerton diversity and equity plan that may exist. 6. Public Comments were made by the following attendees: Drake Evans, Jeff Campbell 7. Working Team Reports a. Change The Power - There was no report tonight. b. Educate & Communicate - There was no report tonight. c. Business & New Economy - There was no report tonight. 8. Old Business a. Filling the Three (3) Bremerton REAC Vacancies Bremerton Race Equity Advisory Committee – Minutes Thursday, April 14th, 6:00 p.m. via Zoom i. ACTION STEPS Quinn will put together and send Bremerton REAC the list of people who (a) have applied, (b) been interviewed, and (c) are still interested. He’ll guide is in scheduling an extra meeting date, between now and our regular May meeting, to both interview the one person who has not yet been interviewed and also to discuss all the applicants and the choose our people. b. Getting in front of Council (Topics for Discussion/Requesting Time for Presentation) i. Quinn will work with Michael, City Council President, to find a time we can present our findings from “Getting To Racial Equity” to City Council before City Council’s June retreat. c. Thursday, April 28th Meet-up with Bainbridge Island REAC i. Sarah, Darryl, Airen, Jennifer, and possibly Glenna will attend. ii. Airen will inform B.I. REAC that we’ll be there and give them our email addresses, so that they can provide us with the meeting link. They’re hosting. iii. Airen will also inform the City Council email address that we’ll be doing this. 9. New Business a. Establish Roles for May 12th Bremerton REAC Meeting: i. Tech Host: Quinn ii. Tech Co-host/Helper: TBD iii. Land Acknowledgement Reader: TBD iv. Timekeeper: Anna v. Notetaker: TBD vi. Facilitator: TBD vii. Agenda Document Creator: Quinn 10. Closing Remarks Meeting adjourned 7:45 PM