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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2016-05-12 Human Relations Commission Summary Minutes Approved Page 1 of 26 HUMAN RELATIONS COMMISSION Thursday, May 12, 2016 Community Meeting Room Palo Alto Civic Center 250 Hamilton Avenue 7:00 PM REGULAR MEETING ROLL CALL: Commissioners Present: Alhassani, Chen, Gordon Gray, O’Nan, Savage, Stinger, Stone Staff: Minka van der Zwaag, Mary Constantino ORAL COMMUNICATIONS: None APPROVAL OF MINUTES: [This item was heard following Agenda Changes, Requests and Deletions.] Chair O'Nan: We all had a chance to review and send in any changes to Mary. Does anyone have any additional comments or changes? If not, do I hear a motion to approve the minutes? MOTION Commissioner Savage: I move to approve. Chair O'Nan: Do I have a second? Commissioner Stinger: I second. Chair O'Nan: All those in favor of approving the March Minutes, say aye. Anyone who opposes or abstains? We have unanimously approved the minutes. Thank you, Mary. We will miss your personal touch on those minutes though. MOTION APPROVED UNANIMOUSLY Minka van der Zwaag: Those are the last ones I think. Chair O'Nan: From now on it will be a verbatim transcript like they use in the courts. AGENDA CHANGES, REQUESTS, and DELETIONS: Chair O'Nan: Do we have any agenda changes, requests or deletions for this evening? Are we good with the proposed agenda? Then let's move on to Approval of Minutes for March. Approved Page 2 of 26 V. BUSINESS 1. Presentation by Diana Miller, Santa Clara County Department of Aging and Adult Services on Age Friendly Cities Initiative Chair O'Nan: Let's move on to our first order of business. I'm delighted that we have a guest speaker this evening. I'm wondering, could we ask Minka to introduce our guest speaker? Ms. van der Zwaag: It's my pleasure to have Diana Miller here from the Department of Aging and Adult Services for the County of Santa Clara, coming to speak to us about the Age Friendly Cities initiative. I've heard a couple of presentations by Diana. I'm pleased to invite her here tonight. This is part of a World Health Organization initiative to help cities prepare for two global demographic trends that are coming our way. One is a rapidly aging population, and the second is increased urbanization. As Diana will explain, an Age Friendly City adapts its structure and services to be accessible to and inclusive of all community members with varying needs and capacities. Becoming an Age Friendly City is a process that has a needs assessment that the County staff will walk us through as a community, then we will turn in an application, and hopefully Palo Alto will be an Age Friendly City. Diana will probably explain. We're trying to couple that with being a Dementia Friendly City; both very important things. This work is part of the Healthy Cities Healthy Communities initiative that is being chaired by Council Members Holman and Kniss. This effort is a subgroup of that holistic look at our community. I'll invite Diana to give you her presentation. Welcome. Diana Miller: Thank you all for having me here. I went on the website; you all have biographies, so I got to read all your biographies. Now I'm very intimidated. Some other cities don't have that for their Commissioners. I really appreciate your efforts of being a Commissioner. I'll tell you a little bit just about the Department of Aging and Adult Services and the Seniors' Agenda. At the County, we're under Social Services, and there are five projects. One is Adult Protective Services for those who have suspected elder abuse, financial, physical or self-neglect. The other one is In-Home Supportive Services, and that is for people on Medi-Cal, either younger people who are disabled or older adults who will have a social worker come out, assess how many hours of care they would need for personal care in order to live at home. Then they employ a care provider. The next one is Senior Nutrition Program, that I'm sure you're all aware of. There are 39 senior nutrition sites. La Comida is the one here in Palo Alto. There are 39 sites plus the Meals on Wheels program. The other department is Public Administrator/Conservator and Guardian, PAGC. Those are taking care of those who cannot take care of themselves, their estates, because of not having the capacity to do that anymore. They do that as well as there is about 600 people in the county who die that don't have any estate or any sort of known heirs, so the County has to take care of their affairs, both physically as well as anything financially. My story about that is that one person, a gentleman, died in San Jose. A very modest house, but investigation, they found out that he had a sister who he hadn't spoken to in 30 years, but he's also one of the original employees of Apple, so she inherited $6 million of stock. Not very many stories turn out, but I thought being in Silicon Valley, those things happen. The fifth project that is fairly new and in fact it kind of comes full circle with Council Member Kniss, when she was on the Board of Supervisors, really started an assessment of senior needs. It came into a 3-year plan of action called the Seniors' Agenda. Then, it's now become the fifth department to really bring the County and the cities and other groups together in order to really benefit seniors and services that are out there. Some of the things in the past 3 years we've accomplished. I'll just say that we do bring people together twice a year, in January and August. It's Approved Page 3 of 26 a free event for people who are serving seniors as well as interested senior activists. We have a keynote speaker, and then we talk about accomplishments or what are some new projects that are happening. That happens ongoing and we have about 200 people that attend that. The other thing that came out of the assessment was, it's also your assessment too, senior transportation. Also they needed intensive case management because many times people come to social service agencies or Adult Protective Services with needs that are so great that you really need somebody with a much more intense resources and collaboration. The County through Measure A money gave outreach and the case management $4.5 million over 3 years. That's their total amount, so they had to split it over 3 years, $750,000 a year for 3 years. There's a waiting list for the Senior Nutrition Program. That waiting list disappeared with that money. Also, the intensive case management has allowed over 100 people so far—it started this year—to be able to stay at home or else come out of a nursing home because they have more help and resources. The other one that's age friendly is the Happy Hollow Park and Zoo which I don't know if anybody has been there in San Jose or you went there a long time ago. It was a pretty tired little zoo. Five years ago, they totally rehabbed it; it's totally ADA accessible. It's really a very new and very beautiful place. You can get your 10,000 steps in. They started opening it up for seniors, 50-plus, once a month, and this is May through October, an hour before the park opens. You get free parking; you get in free, and you get to exercise, hula- hoop, tai chi, and what are some other things you get to do? Watch the animals have their breakfast. Commissioner Gordon Gray: Where is that? Ms. Miller: I have this for you. This is a Senior Safari. No grandkids allowed, but we've had people from the Senior Nutrition Program. It's all adults, the Senior Nutrition Program. We've had skilled nursing homes as well as like I saw the Milpitas Garden Club was there with their matching T-shirts. It's a really fun place. This is right off on Center Road where the San Jose Giants baseball stadium is, right off 280. You all are welcome. It's a great event to come to. We've done many projects; that was some of the highlights in the past 3 years. A lot of those would have qualified for the World Health Organization's Age Friendly designation. We thought our goal would be to have to go after that designation. This Age Friendly designation was started in 2005, and currently there are 258 cities in 28 countries that have gotten the designation. They look at these eight domains of livability. Some things, we know, are pretty important, housing, transportation, open space and buildings, but some things are not as tangible like social participation, social inclusion, employment, community support and health services. When they do an assessment, they look at these eight domains to see what the things that the city is doing great are and what are some things that need to be improved on. Our goal is for the County and every city in Santa Clara County to become an Age Friendly City by 2017. We'd like to highlight that at the International Geriatric and Gerontology Society's congress that happens every 4 years. It happens to be in San Francisco in 2017. We'd like to showcase Santa Clara County and the cities and what we all are doing. We are looking at—I come from a background of both working in nonprofit and working for the City of San Jose Council person, and now with the County. I'm figuring out how can we benefit off each other and not work in silos. What's the most cost-effective way we can do it? How can we share some of the resources? We're already connected with over 100 nonprofits and those who work here in Palo Alto, like SALA, the legal assistance, also works all over the County. How can we work together and how can we avoid duplication and at other times maybe leverage other networks, because we're doing this kind of a little bigger and better than just ourselves one at a time. The County's gotten the assistance of CAFE, which is the Center for Age Friendly Excellence. The first city in California to become Approved Page 4 of 26 Age Friendly was the City of Los Altos and Los Altos Hills in 2011. That's because the professor of gerontology at San Francisco State lives in Los Altos. As a student project, they worked on this. She has started the Center for Age Friendly Excellence and she is able, because of our contract with her, to have associates. They're interns or they're people that are retired and want to be involved in a different way or student interns are able to help the city. Even their city staff doesn't have to do all the work; there's someone else that's helping there, coordinating and doing some of the work. We're looking at a shared media campaign and branding. We have a new website out for all, and it's just a way to recognize your city and what you're doing for all the residents. We figure, even though they say Age Friendly, if it's good for an 80-ye ar old, it's also good for an 8-year old or an 8-month old. We started on this path and we also had an opportunity to look at dementia. In dementia there are 30,000 people in Santa Clara County that are diagnosed and expected to double to 60,000 by 2050. This has an impact not only on our medical system and all the families, but also the ERs, how you go about, even your own workforce, if there are a lot of caregivers out there trying to struggle to care for someone with dementia and still work their job. We're looking at how we can do that. At the White House Conference on Aging, they announced this initiative, the Dementia Friendly America, and we were one of nine pilot sites that were asked to start doing this. We are working with the Alzheimer's Association, of course, but we're looking at a community model that was modeled in Minnesota, that was very effective. Since July of last year, we went from nine projects to all the states that are there, about 43 of the 50 states, are in some sort of inquiry and working on this model either at the state level or county or city level. I think it's a need that's unmet, and people don't know how to get their hands around what we can do for dementia. Some of the things we've done are with the Valley Medical Center; there is a direct referral now with the Alzheimer's Association. The doctor can put in the diagnosis and instead of waiting for the family to contact Alzheimer's Association, which usually takes 2 1/2 years before they do, they wait for a crisis to happen but now they can go directly and have the Alzheimer's Association contact them and see if they need any help, services, what they might need. That's one. Also the fire department has a file of life, like the vial of life, where you put on your refrigerator all your information in case of an emergency. Now we have a diagnosis of dementia to put on there as well as your caregiver name. A lot of times those forms have next of kin, but that's not always your caregiver. We're looking at that. Those are some of the things we've already done, so we're looking at that. Last Friday, we had a senior symposium for the seniors. It was free; it was at the Mexican Heritage Plaza in San Jose. Minka was there. We launched our Age Friendly website which is a separate website from the County. Every city can also add on under their city what they're doing. We have that. What are the next steps? In the cities, what we've been doing is having people organize an Age Friendly task force. Usually it's some people from the senior commission or, in this one, the model works in really well with your Healthy Cities Healthy Communities project as a subcommittee. We have an assessment, so CAFE will help lead focus groups. In Morgan Hill, they put together two focus groups. In the City of San Jose, they've done 11, and they're still thinking for new groups they want to have focused on. That's what the task force decides, what is a good reflection of our community. Out of that, they look at the eight domains just to see what we're doing great, what are the gaps and what are some ideas for projects. We are doing an Age Friendly survey from AARP that the Department of Public Health is administering. We have changed it and made it Bay Area friendly. We added more genders; we took out snow removal as a possible need that you might have; we've tweaked it a little bit. After you've done the surveys and you have some ideas of projects, then part of the application project is the City Council has to sign off on it. The application really is your intention of what you're going to be doing for the next 3 years. Then, you submit your application. We've done an assessment; we're Approved Page 5 of 26 kind of ready to go. Here are some ideas of what we're going to do, and then you have 3 years to come up with your projects. New York City had 61 projects they were going to do. The City of Los Altos had five. It depends on what you think is doable. Some things don't cost any money; some things might cost money. It's very much community driven with the support of the City Council. That's kind of the next steps and what we plan to do. I wanted to present that to you. I have some handouts that I can give you. One is to give you a little bit more about the World Health Organization. This is their brochure that they have; it goes through all the steps and what their expectations are and how to work through the project. Anabel Pelham, who's the Director of CAFE, over her spring break from San Francisco State went to Geneva and told them what we were doing and be on the lookout for all the applications. She's been with them. I also have a fact sheet for Dementia Friendly. This is just at a glance what some of the things we've already accomplished with the Dementia Friendly and about our Seniors' Agenda. I'll pass those out. I'm open for questions and comments. Chair O'Nan: Do any of the Commissioners have questions or comments for our speaker? Commissioner Alhassani. Commissioner Alhassani: Thanks so much for the presentation. Can you go into more detail about what were the projects that Los Altos did? I assume they'd be ones that Palo Alto would explore. Ms. Miller: Los Altos, transportation and housing are the big ones. How can we work—some things we can work together on, like across the County, some of these issues. Some are separate. One thing that came out for them was disaster preparedness, that people were living alone in these houses and don't really feel like they're prepared or that anybody would really come looking for them. One thing they did is they got their Rotary Club and the Boy Scouts and the Senior Center together, and they have little flash drives that have vital information, but it has a little something inscribed on that. The Boy Scouts help the seniors put in all their information. Also, even a picture of your pet because, if there's a disaster and your pet runs away, then at least you can let people know. In a disaster, you can take that with you. As well as the Boy Scouts gave out emergency bags that they did. They've also done walking tours; every fall they do a walking tour, the seniors do of the downtown where they give a list to the city about where the foliage is over lights or signage and where the lights are out and everything, like here's your fix it list, to keep it well lit. They've also started a 50-plus popup; I want to say nightclub, but I don't know if that's the name that they call it. That's an old name anymore. It's a popup social event. They do that, that different businesses host. They have these popup events for socialization and mixers. That's some of the things they've done. Morgan Hill just sent in their application. Of the remaining 13 cities, everybody is in some process of moving ahead. Morgan Hill was the first one to get their application in, April 15th. One was communication information, so they started an Age Friendly column in their local weekly paper. They do that and talk about Age Friendly issues. They also are looking at transportation; they're going to really look at that because that's another thing that's really lacking there. Even having bus shelters that are covered. Just really basic things like that for transportation as well as how do we get door-to-door and get issues. Some of them are city, and some of them are just things that people can come up and create on their own. Chair O'Nan: Other additional questions or comments? Commissioner Gordon Gray: The funding comes from whom? Approved Page 6 of 26 Ms. Miller: It's free; there's no fee to apply. It's all free, and then you're part of their network where you share best practices. There's no funding specifically connected with it, but it's free to apply. It's the process that your city does. After you have that, then you can—if there is something that needs funding, then it's a way that you already have community engagement, and there's possibilities of how you can find funding. If you're going for some city grants, if you say you've done this World Health Organization, you might get extra points. There are things that can be a benefit that way. It's really about the intentionality, about how are we looking at our city and how are we—I just had the event at the Mexican Heritage Plaza which was flat. Parking was easy access in, so people were feeling okay about that. When you go into the theater, there's a pretty steep steps. Ms. van der Zwaag: I thought about that. Ms. Miller: What we hope to do too is not only the task force working, but once a year all the city planners meet together in the county or they meet frequently but once a year talk about Age Friendly. Are they doing universal design? How are they thinking about their planning and the planning department and the same way for transportation and housing? All these heads departments around the County meet already. We do that. The Santa Clara County Association of Cities made this a priority for this year. They're also looking at how they can help participate. Commissioner Stinger: Thank you. That was a great presentation; thank you. I do have a question. One of the categories was socialization; you talked about ways to get the seniors into the community. What about very, very fragile seniors who maybe can't get into the community? Are there programs or are there efforts to look at taking stimulating programs to them or providing something that they wouldn't be able to access in the community? Ms. Miller: I think there are some programs out there that people aren't aware of. I think Morgan Hill made a real effort with the survey, that you can take it online or you can take it on paper too— it's in English and Spanish and will be Vietnamese and Chinese eventually—to really take it into places where there are people that are more homebound or isolated. I think we're looking at, through the Meals on Wheels program—people are looking at where those could be. There are some programs. There's Senior Center Without Walls, which is a free program with the telephone that you can call up. They have activities and travel logs and everything. People don't know about that, so that's one. The County Meals on Wheels program just started a program of friendly visitors with those on Meals on Wheels to include a visitation and to look at how can we engage people that are isolated. If you feel socially isolated, I have many facts about aging. I'm sparing you many. If you do feel socially isolated, even if you're in a group, the research shows it impacts your health the equivalent of smoking 12 cigarettes a day. If you are feeling that way, and some people can feel that way in a group of people, but other people are home alone and feel that way too. We want to capture people and do something to help with their participation. It's coming up with ideas and helping promote those that are already out there, that are doing a good job. Chair O'Nan: You had mentioned that there was a professor who was a gerontologist, who lives in Los Altos. Was that the professor's research or best practices? Were they contracted to the County? Ms. Miller: Dr. Anabel Pelham, her Center for Age Friendly Excellence. We were able to get a Approved Page 7 of 26 grant, so we contracted with her. She allows us to get interns and associates to help each city. When we originally sought this project, we thought the interns would be in one city and then move to the next, but they get very tied into their city, and they're usually from their city. The person who's going to be in Palo Alto is Judith Webb, who retired from Avenidas as a lifelong learning program manager. She really wants to stay connected in the community. She also brings her connections with the academic world and the World Health Organization too. Chair O'Nan: Could you give us an example of what would make a city Dementia Friendly? Ms. Miller: A Dementia Friendly City, there's two things that we're doing. We just had a workshop and two things came out. One is we had the Chamber of Commerce come and hosted a Dementia Friendly workshop. One of the people there was the Postal Service. They said we really need for our customer service and our postal carriers to have more education and training about dementia and what to look out for and maybe who to contact if you're concerned. They've done training around Dementia Friendly that the Alzheimer's Association has done, as well as first responders. Many times someone is in the community and they really don't know how to handle or even think this person might have dementia versus something else. A couple of examples. One gentleman had his mom out, and she started taking off her clothes, and he was trying to put the clothes on her, and then she starts screaming and yelling, and then people think he's assaulting her. Those situations, how can we do a better job of just education and knowing where to go? Many times they end up in the ER or the jail. They don't want them, and then they're automatically let go. It's like there's not a good seamless way to do community care. Nationally, they're looking at starting this summer called Dementia Friends. They've done this in England and in Japan. You go online and you take a 20- minute workshop about dementia, and you get a little pin or something that say's you're a Dementia Friend, just so you have a better knowledge about that. Businesses have been Dementia Friendly, where the restaurants train their staff. Our Senior Safari Walkabout is very Dementia Friendly because it's an enclosed space—it's enclosed for little kids—so they can't wander and run away. It's also enclosed in a very non-restrictive way for people with dementia. If you go, there's not a lot of stimulation and it has easy pathways and stuff like that. Chair O'Nan: Other additional questions or comments for our speaker? Commissioner Chen: In regard to the collaboration between city and the County, what is the plan of the County to do so? Ms. Miller: That's what we're doing now. We're asking cities to participate. When everybody's onboard, as we say, we'll probably meet together occasionally to share best practices, to see what things we might want to work on that we have in common, on things we want to say, "That's a great idea. I want to use it in my city." As the County, my role is to really help be the backbone person, the person who's there to help steer it and keep it going as people change and interests change. Chair O'Nan: As far as housing goes, what would be considered Age Friendly housing? Ms. Miller: There are a couple of things. One thing we don't have in this county that other counties have is shared housing. In Marin, they did a couple of things. Sausalito is Age Friendly, and they helped with their shared housing program for seniors. It's through a nonprofit that does the Approved Page 8 of 26 background checks on both of them and helps mediate and bring people together. Those who are house rich and cash poor might need that. That's what they did. The other thing is they started their own volunteer driver program. What I liked about them, it wasn't just 10:00 to 2:00 Monday through Friday to go to the doctor and grocery store. The city put in money so people could also get voluntary rides to the community events, like the big art and wine festival and music and some other things that would bring more participation and not just going to the grocery story. Vice Chair Stone: I was hoping for a little more clarification on the partnership between the County and the cities. There appears to be more of a partnership than anything else. Is that true? Are there other services that the County would then provide through the cities? Maybe you could just describe that a little more. Ms. Miller: Right now, we're providing access to this technical assistance and to help everybody get through the process. We're also working with a public relations firm on the logos that everybody has. The Age Friendly logos, they look alike but they're different because each city gets highlighted, but there's that same branding. The website is a place to go, because you're really not an organization unless you have a website. If it was left to the County to do the website, it would take years. Those are some of the ways that we're trying to do that as well as just collaboration on different—I guess that would be the partnership now. It's pretty organic. I think it's how can we build the relationships and see where it would be beneficial to keep working. The County's committed to help people see that through. When people look at their community in a focus group, they don't know what a County problem is and what is a city problem, so who has the responsibility. How can we partner because there are some things that we could help with. Just being more connected with County services, with food, Senior Nutrition and the Adult Protective Services and things like that. Ms. van der Zwaag: I was going to add something. The task force has yet to be formed. At some of our meetings, it's just been a couple of City staff members with Diana or Judith if they're able to attend. That's the next step that Judith and I will be working on. The reason I brought this here is because I know the HRC has a deep interest in issues related to seniors as evidenced by our forum that we had almost a year ago. The subcommittee, especially the transportation subcommittee, one of the key domains that the survey looks at is the element of transportation. A lot of things Diana talked about, having a place to sit, a structure, were many of things that came out in our own survey of transportation issues related to seniors. Here's an opportunity for one or a couple HRC members to serve on this task force that meets during the meetings of the Healthy Cities Healthy Communities. That is the last, I believe, Thursday of the month. The next meeting is May 26th at 12:00 noon. I know Chair O'Nan had expressed interest due to her involvement with the senior subcommittee. If there is another Commissioner who would be interested in serving it's a task force. The survey will be provided for us. We'll get information on how to facilitate. Primarily it'll probably be City staff filling out the application. Is that of interest to anybody? Ms. Miller: I think we bring the findings back to your Commission before we go to the City Council too to (crosstalk). Ms. van der Zwaag: That's right. The important thing is the survey is done, and it goes to the County. They piece through all the survey results and give us some thoughts back that we can Approved Page 9 of 26 incorporate in our application. Ms. Miller: The survey will go by ZIP Code. You can get raw data; you can get it any way. We can do the analytics; Public Health can do that. We can also do the focus groups. What you did in January 2015 would also be an addendum to your application. The application is very simple because we really want people to have that intention that we want to keep looking through Age Friendly eyes about how our community is. You look at housing. We're building all this stuff with all these stairs, so either you're going to invest in that Lift stock, because everybody is going to need that, or fall prevention or something. You're going to have to think about how we design it, universal design or whatever. Ms. van der Zwaag: The applications has, correct me if I'm wrong, is more of an intention to the World Health Organization. Ms. Miller: Then you have 3 years to figure out what those are. Usually, they're two or three things. We can help work out—I help with the sustainability. I help to keep that happening. I think friendly competition among cities also helps too. Commissioner Stinger: I'd be interested. Chair O'Nan: Commissioner Stinger would also like to join the task force. That's great. Thank you. Thank you so much, Diana, for speaking to us all. Ms. Miller: Thank you all. Thank you so much. I really appreciate the forums that you've been doing and the feedback. It was really great to see what you had done with seniors. It was easy to kind of look out. It was the typical things about housing and transportation, but you had another one that had a lot about participation and the isolated seniors. Those are good things to build on. Thank you all. Chair O'Nan: Thank you so much. We look forward to seeing you again when you circle back to the HRC. Ms. Miller: I will. You can come to Senior Safari; I always go. Chair O'Nan: If there are no more questions and comments on Age Friendly City, I think we're ready to move on to our next agenda item. 2. Discussion of HRC Summer Schedule and Retreat Chair O'Nan: The discussion of our HRC summer meeting schedule and retreat. I think, as most of you know, we have an annual retreat. Usually we have it in August or September. This year we also have a study session with Council coming up because our study session was postponed. We need to figure out do we want to maybe skip a regular meeting in order to either prepare for the study session and/or have a retreat before the study session with Council. We also need to think about our upcoming vacation schedules and so forth and make sure that everyone's available. I asked staff to put this on the agenda so we could discuss it early on, before everyone's travel plans and such are locked in stone, and just find out what people are thinking. Right now, Minka, can you remind us Approved Page 10 of 26 what the possible dates for the study session with Council are? Ms. van der Zwaag: August 29th or September 19th is two dates that were given to us to consider. Chair O'Nan: Do we want to have a retreat in August, earlier in August, and then prepare for the study session at the end of the month or are people already thinking they will be out of town? Commissioner Savage: I'll be out of town September 19th. Chair O'Nan: It sounds like September is not going to work. Commissioner Chen: I'm out of town too. Chair O'Nan: Where is everybody going in September? I want to go to. Commissioner Alhassani: I'm actually out August 29th. Ms. van der Zwaag: Are we going to take votes? September 19th, how many people are going to be gone in September? One, two, three. How many people are gone at the end of the August? One. Chair O'Nan: I think then Commissioner Alhassani could still maybe participate in the retreat, but then would not be able to come to the study session, if those were our dates. Do we feel like we want to have our retreat then in August, maybe a couple or 3 weeks before the study session at the end of the month, so we can prepare for it and skip our regular August meeting? Commissioner Savage: The Council Study Session will be August 29th, is that right? Chair O'Nan: Mm-hmm. The retreat, we would do our usual, review our accomplishments, establish our priorities, but also would need to prepare for our upcoming study session. Commissioner Alhassani: I vote we do the retreat on the same day as we would have our normal meeting but just during the day. Chair O'Nan: That may be possible, but it would be a Thursday which would mean folks would have to be willing to take time off of work and so forth. Commissioner Gordon Gray: You're saying a couple of weeks before the 29th we should meet to prepare for the study session? Chair O'Nan: We would have our retreat. Commissioner Gordon Gray: Retreat, the 29th, preparing for the study session? Chair O'Nan: Mm-hmm. Commissioner Gordon Gray: You're proposing August 11th. Approved Page 11 of 26 Chair O'Nan: It would have to be some time before. Would that leave enough time for the Chair and Vice Chair to meet with the Mayor and Vice Mayor? Ms. van der Zwaag: I don't think we'd have to do that again, because it is the same Mayor and he already gave his feedback. I will double check with the Clerk's Office, but I just don't see why that would be necessary. Chair O'Nan: I would say some time earlier in August, probably early to mid-august we would have our retreat, so that there would be at least a few weeks for a slide deck to be developed that we could show at the study session with Council and to just prepare everyone who wants to present or speak briefly about their role on the HRC. I think Council really enjoys hearing from each one of us, because we all have different areas of focus and like to hear from our own lips what we do. At least, Mayor Burt told us that at our last meeting with him. Is early to mid-August agreeable to folks? I think in the past we have sometimes met on a Saturday, and we've had to give up some personal family time. We've also had retreats where we sort of took a half day. We sort of met at 8:00 and went 'til noon, and then people went back to work and kind of still had somewhat of a working day but took the morning off. Commissioner Gordon Gray: Last year, what was the schedule? Chair O'Nan: Last year, I think we did it during the week. It was a half day. Ms. Constantino: (crosstalk) Matadero Room at Mitchell, and we had it during the day. The year before that we did it also at the Art Center in the day. We had breakfast and lunch. Chair O'Nan: We have met at different nature centers. We did meet at Foothills Park one year, I think on a Saturday morning. People who work are a little bit sometimes under the gun not to take too much time off from work, and I don't want to put people under pressure, but I don't want to hog up people's weekends either. Commissioner Savage: Either one works for me, mid-week or a Saturday. I do think there are some synergies. We review what we've done in the last year and think about our priorities going forward and what our strategy is for next year. We in essence have prepared a packet. It seems like that would be a good use of time to do it all at once, just as long as we make sure that we have enough hours, that we've allowed enough time to do two things. Chair O'Nan: I think a half day has usually worked out. I think we get some good work done, but we don't get too frustrated or bored. As I said, everybody has the rest of the day to get back to work or back to their families or whatever it is that they need to do. Would you like to consider then meeting around the time that we would have had our normal Thursday night meeting except that we would maybe meet for a half day either maybe that Thursday or Friday? Commissioner Savage: That's agreeable to me, but I prefer an 8:00 to 12:00 time slot. I think Mitchell Park is a great place. Not just because I live a block away. Approved Page 12 of 26 Chair O'Nan: Full disclosure, Commissioner Savage. Commissioner Gordon Gray: How about 9:00 to 1:00? Commissioner Savage: How about 8:30 to 12:30? Chair O'Nan: That sounds very collegial. I think Mitchell Park works well for staff, because you don't have to travel so far from Cubberley. I think as long as we have some Pete's tea there when I get there, I'm good. I can show up any time anywhere as long as I know some caffeine is waiting for me. What do some of the other folks think? Commissioner Alhassani, I know you have a work schedule. Could you take a morning off if you planned enough ahead? Commissioner Alhassani: Yes. Chair O'Nan: Commissioner Chen? Commissioner Chen: During the week, yes. During the week, Friday would be best for me. Chair O'Nan: Vice Chair Stone? Vice Chair Stone: Yes, fine with me as long as Mary gets the scones again. Chair O'Nan: All right. Do we want to maybe Doodle a couple or three dates? Ms. van der Zwaag: We'll do that. I'm just hoping the Clerk's Office held both dates for us. It looks like if she didn't, then looks like we'll just ask for another date in September because it looks like the 19th won't work. I still think having the retreat and then getting just back to business in September for a regular meeting, I think, has worked well for the HRC. Chair O'Nan: I think that does work well. We do something a little different, and then I think we're ready to go in the fall, which always feels good, like going back to school even though we're all grownups. We'll ask our kind staff members to put a Doodle together with a few options for a half day. It sounds like morning is preferred. Ms. van der Zwaag: Was there any consensus for Fridays or was that just for some of you? Commissioner Gordon Gray: Fridays work for me. Commissioner Savage: Yeah, works for me. Chair O'Nan: Are we good with like picking that Friday around the time of our regular meeting? Commissioner Savage: That'd be August 12th? Chair O'Nan: Is Friday August 12th? Do we want to go ahead and set that date? Are we good? Approved Page 13 of 26 Vice Chair Stone: That works. Commissioner Savage: That works for me. Chair O'Nan: Do we need a Doodle for people to check schedules with spouses and families? Commissioner Stinger: I wouldn't mind a doodle. Chair O'Nan: Why don't we put the 12th, the 11th, maybe a couple of other dates around that time, and just give people a few options? Ms. van der Zwaag: Of course. Ms. van der Zwaag: Mary made a good point that there may still be summer camps going on. That might put us in a less desirable room. Chair O'Nan: Everyone be on the lookout for a Doodle poll and let us know. Try to be flexible and take as many possible dates as you can, even if you do prefer some just because it can be hard to get a consensus if people get too picky about what dates. I think we're going to split the difference here and say 8:30 to 12:30, just a good compromise that we came up with. Great that will be our summer plan. We'll meet in June and July. We'll have our retreat in August, and our study session hopefully with Council will be toward the end of August. Commissioner Stinger: Are we meeting in July? Chair O'Nan: We are meeting in July. Any other questions, concerns, comments about the summer schedule? Commissioner Savage: Don't we normally take one month off in the summer or am I confusing? Chair O'Nan: I think we sort of took August off, and then we had our retreats in September. The last few years, we've had our retreats in August, and there's been stuff going on where we wanted to go ahead and start meeting again. I think that'll work. I think some years too we end up taking December off, where we have a very light meeting and then have our little Christmas celebration. I think we're probably good. We're not too worn out hopefully, despite out all the hard work that we do. 3. Update and Approval of Action Steps Related to the Upcoming Landlord Outreach Event in Regards to Homeless Veterans Commissioner Alhassani: This is in regards to planning for the landlord incentives event. To recap, we're doing an event inviting landlords from Palo Alto as well as the county to educate them about the incentives that the County is dedicating to landlords if they house a homeless veteran. We have been in touch with the County as well as Destination Home, a nonprofit that's leading the All the Way Home campaign, which is trying to end veteran homelessness in the county. We pushed the date out to be the week of June 13th. We're leveraging a lot of the materials that the county used the first time around when they did this event last year. We have some edits to their marketing Approved Page 14 of 26 materials. Minka, Mary and I are working through that with our counterparts. We will plan to basically send a few mailers and advertisements in the Weekly. One thing that I was hoping we could get a vote on is what I'd like to do is try to get an editorial published making the case for why this is a good program for landlords as well as it's going to help the publicity for the program. I think to make it official that we need to vote to get the Commission's approval if I could write this on behalf of the HRC, basically making the argument of why landlords should consider this as an option for a tenant. Chair O'Nan: Sounds good. Anyone have any questions for Commissioner Alhassani? Commissioner Gordon Gray: I do. Is this a public event? Are you inviting the public? Commissioner Alhassani: Anyone is welcome, but our outreach is targeted to landlords and faith- based communities because some of members are being able to house some people as well. To be clear, the mailers are going out to actually a specific group of registered landlords. Again, it's open to anybody, but our outreach is really targeted towards landlords. For us, of course, the more the merrier at a high level, but we're not going for "get the biggest crowd possible." We're going to make sure that the landlords who have—whether it's a cottage in your backyard, investment property somewhere or whether somebody works for that company that has a lot of properties in the area, those are the folks who we're targeting to get. Ms. van der Zwaag: There are over 700 homeless vets in the county, and 200 of them have vouchers in hand. Commissioner Alhassani: Two hundred sixty. Ms. van der Zwaag: Two hundred sixty, yeah, have vouchers in hand, and they can't find anyone to rent to them. Commissioner Alhassani: For a one bedroom, for example, the voucher gets you just over $2,000, so that's guaranteed rent just over $2,000. Of course, in this area, a one-bedroom is more expensive than that. On average in Santa Clara County, a one-bedroom is $2,800, but that's because there's disparity within the county. In the city of Santa Clara, for example, the average one-bedroom is $2,300. What the County has done, they will give $1,500 cash if you give a 1-year lease to a homeless veteran. If you add that few hundred dollars and trickle it throughout the course of 12 months, you get closer to market rate. You also get renters insurance, you get damaged property insurance, and get to screen the tenants. If a lease gets broken, you're absolutely going to get paid. There's all these little perks that the County has done a good job of creating. We just want to educate landlords about this and see if we can get them to commit at least some units to a homeless veteran. Vice Chair Stone: The writing you want to do on behalf of the HRC is going to be part of those mailers or it'll be published in the paper? Commissioner Alhassani: No, ideally published in the paper. Approved Page 15 of 26 Vice Chair Stone: In the Palo Alto Daily? Commissioner Alhassani: That's who I'd want to go to first. Ms. van der Zwaag: Weekly. Vice Chair Stone: When do you want to get that published by ideally? Commissioner Alhassani: Our hope is in the run-up right before the event basically. We were going to ask Sue Dremann the reporter who usually covers the HRC, if she had knowledge about what's the best day where we'll get the most eyeballs on it. Maybe it's Sunday or during the weekday. Vice Chair Stone: That would be before the event in mid-June? Commissioner Alhassani: The point is if they tell us Sunday is the day we want to publish, it would be the Sunday before the event or something like that. Vice Chair Stone: You're asking the vote tonight then because we likely won't have time in June? Commissioner Alhassani: Correct. MOTION Chair O'Nan: Any more questions or comments for Commissioner Alhassani? Do we have a motion to approve his writing and publishing of an editorial around this event? Vice Chair Stone: I'll make the motion. Commissioner Gordon Gray: I'll second it. MOTION APPROVED UNANIMOUSLY Chair O'Nan: All in favor. Anyone oppose or abstain? Commissioner Alhassani, you have your writing papers. Commissioner Alhassani: Thanks much. Thank you. Chair O'Nan: This is awesome. I may be able to help you contact Sue Dremann, because she's called me in the past. I believe I have her cell number, so I may be able to help you get in touch. I was hoping she would come tonight too, but she's not here. We'll see, but that will be great. 4. Discussion of the Site Visits to Human Services Resource Allocation Process (HSRAP) Agencies Chair O'Nan: There may be a Commissioner or two who wasn't here at that time who may now want to sign up. What we had discussed was—just to recap. We have about 14 agencies now. Chair O'Nan: We like from time to time just to visit them, to find out more about what they do. It's not an audit or checking up on them or anything like that. It really helps us as Commissioners Approved Page 16 of 26 understand their work better. When we go through the HSRAP funding allocation recommendation process, I think it helps inform our decisions. Every year we ask Commissioners to visit a couple or three agencies, depending on how much time each of us has. These are the ones that some of us have signed up for so far. If there are ones that, for example, you see someone is the lead Commissioner, that means that he or she is going to reach out to that agency and actually set up a visit. If you want to piggy back onto that trip, you're very welcome to do so. Please don't call the agency to set up a whole separate site visit. That's a burden on them and on their staff. As I said, if you want to piggy back, that's fine. If you want to go on your own, that's fine too. This is the list we've got so far. Does anyone have any questions or does anyone want to let us know that they have gone ahead and set up a date for one of their visits and welcome some other Commissioners? I think only three Commissioners can go because of the Brown Act. There would be the lead and then two other people could piggy back on a visit. Commissioner Chen: I was thinking about did we get the information of the person to contact for each agency? Ms. van der Zwaag: Of course. Commissioner Chen: Maybe I missed that. Ms. van der Zwaag: Just contact—I could actually go tomorrow and look at the list and send it on to you. Commissioner Chen: I would appreciate it. Ms. van der Zwaag: I'll do that tomorrow. Commissioner Gordon Gray: Mary sent them out last time. Ms. Constantino: I sent out the contact information. Commissioner Gordon Gray: She did. It has all the contact information. Commissioner Chen: Did you send us something? Ms. Constantino: Yeah. I can resend it out. Chair O'Nan: I appreciate it. The other thing to be aware of is that the HSRAP funding process will start sometime in the fall. It'd be good to have these entire site visits concluded well before that process. It's a little awkward to visit agencies while their RFPs are outstanding. We don't want to look like we're playing favorites or only visiting certain agencies and so forth. Be sensitive to that. Otherwise, it's up to you to make those contacts. Then, you're very welcome to give a Commissioner report once you've done that, at the next meeting, and let us know who you visited, what you learned and anything else that came out of that site visit. I think you'll find them very, very interesting and illuminating. Approved Page 17 of 26 Commissioner Gordon Gray: When I got Mary's email, I thought we were supposed to jump on it. I actually visited Downtown Streets Team today. I didn't realize we were supposed to invite other people. Ms. van der Zwaag: You went to their meeting? Commissioner Gordon Gray: I went to their meeting. Ms. van der Zwaag: That's a little bit different than having someone tour you around their entire building, and then another person being toured around. I think you're good. Commissioner Gordon Gray: When I said, "I'd like to come and just learn more about your organization," that sounded like that was the option, to come to the meeting. Ms. van der Zwaag: That's the best way to see what they do, at their weekly success meeting. Commissioner Gordon Gray: Right. I don't know if there's anything else to do there. Ms. van der Zwaag: Nope. Commissioner Gordon Gray: I also am visiting Abilities United. That's going to be, I think, on the 26th. If anyone wants to go, I have to confirm that, but if anyone wants to join me. Chair O'Nan: That'd be the 26th of May? Commissioner Gordon Gray: Yes. I have to confirm it. If anyone is interested in going to Abilities United, contact me. Chair O'Nan: I probably will not do my visits until June because of my workload, which will become lighter after the term ends, and I'm done teaching. If anyone wants to hold off and come with me in June sometime, that will be great. What you can do is when you schedule a visit— actually this is a good thing to discuss. When you schedule a visit, let staff know, let Minka and Mary know. They can then tell all the other Commissioners. If anyone wants to piggy back, they can do that. Remember we can't let each other know, because that would be a violation of the Brown Act. Inform staff if you've set something up. Ms. van der Zwaag: Then we can know how many are actually going, that it's not more than three. Chair O'Nan: Right. When you set something up, let Minka and Mary know. That way we can efficiently share information with each other. Anybody have any other questions, comments? We'll be in touch, make the contact, let Minka and Mary know, and hopefully we'll have some good site visits to report back on this summer. They're usually a lot of—I would say fun actually. I mean, just very informative. I always find it very inspiring. 5. Update and Next Steps from Recent Forum on Implicit Bias Chair O'Nan: Our next action item is to get a next steps update from Commissioner Stinger who Approved Page 18 of 26 sponsored a wonderful implicit bias event that many of us were fortunate to attend. I believe that just right before this meeting, she had a meeting to discuss next steps with her team. This is a little maybe hot off the press. Commissioner Stinger: We do have a report, and we did have a chance to meet. After the forum, there were a number of good ideas and a lot of enthusiasm from people who attended the forum and ways that they wanted to follow up or continue the discussion. We went over some of those ideas today, and decided that there seems to be an interest most in continuing the conversation, smaller groups, something casual, and fun. That's what we're working on. We have some ideas. We have a structure, a vision of what we want to do. We're going to just test a couple of cases out and bring that back to you next month. We're enthusiastic about continuing the conversation. Chair O'Nan: That sounds wonderful. Thank you very much for that update. Does anyone have a question, comments or anything for Commissioner Stinger? Those of you who attended the event, I don't know if you had anything else that you wanted to add. Commissioner Chen: You are talking about a small group. What kind of small group do you want in mind when you set it up? Commissioner Stinger: That's a good question, Theresa. We tossed around several ideas, and we want to just sort of test those before we go public and embarrass ourselves with ones that turn out to be less viable. Commissioner Chen: The idea is that it's on the go. Commissioner Stinger: Yeah. We don't have anything really solidly formulated enough to bring to you today. Commissioner Chen: Thank you. Chair O'Nan: It was a really wonderful event, and I heard all kinds of really positive feedback from people who attended. Commissioner Stinger: Good, I'm glad. Chair O'Nan: I really enjoyed attending it and listening to the speakers, meeting Pastor Smith who I had heard so much about but hadn't had the pleasure of meeting until that event. Commissioner Stinger: We really wanted to focus on inclusion and diversity and celebrate that. That's what we want to continue to do as we move forward. Maybe just make it a little bit more intimate and more conversational with more local participation. Chair O'Nan: I think that's a great idea. Anyone else have questions or comments? Thank you very much, Commissioner Stinger. That was a great update. Commissioner Stinger: You're welcome. Approved Page 19 of 26 6. Human Relations Commission Chair and Vice Chair Elections Chair O'Nan: Now, I think for our final agenda item, it is time to elect the Chair and Vice Chair for the next year. I have a cheat sheet here that I may have to refer to. Ms. van der Zwaag: That's okay. I can start by just talking a little bit about the role of the Chair, if that's okay with you. Chair O'Nan: Yes, that would be great. Ms. van der Zwaag: I thought I'd spend a little bit of time just reminding folks what the role of the Chairperson is. Obviously the Chairperson presides at the meetings, but they're also the spokesperson for the HRC. They call the meeting, they cancel the meeting, and they coordinate and set the agenda with the staff liaison. We have expanded a little bit more that Mary and I meet with the Chair and the Vice Chair to do that. They ensure the meeting starts and ends on time or within a reasonable time. They keep track of how agenda items are flowing during the meeting, and they move it along when needed. They might, if we have guest speakers, try to be inclusive and get some good information out of them. I think they're also trying to ensure that the Commissioners have adequate time to ask for questions as well. They are cognizant of the people who come for public testimony, to make sure that they get the time allotted that they are required to under the rules. If there's something that comes up and there is some confusion about the matter, I think it's the Chair and the Vice Chair always thoroughly discuss an agenda item with Mary and I ahead of time so that they are able to say this is the item, this is why it's on the agenda, this is who brought it, this is some background on it. They're really your conduit in addition to staff to really understanding an agenda item and understanding why it's on that month's agenda. They're also responsible for making sure that all the items are properly moved and seconded and voted on and questions are asked at the right time and questions and comments and public comments. They need to be cognizant of that. They make sure that we focus on the issues. If something gets a little off track, they'll say, "That sounds really good." Maybe that's not on the agenda. We're all subject to the Brown Act. If something comes up and some grand discussion happens and it wasn't agendized, we can be in violation of the Brown Act. Staff, the Chair and the Vice Chair are very cognizant of keeping us on track for what's on the agenda. This has not been an issue here, but they are there to identify points of agreement, if there's points of disagreement that are maybe a little heated or they're trying to just build it in so we could have a respectful conversation with each other regardless of what the topic is. They make sure that everybody's views are heard. They are our designated media spokesperson, if the media is interested in hearing something about the HRC. As far as time commitment, the leadership team meets with Mary and me once a month to do agenda planning. It could be a 1-hour meeting, could be a 2-hour meeting. Also, the unknown is just things that come up. I get questions from Council Members or I get questions from the leadership team in my department of what the HRC's thoughts are or has the HRC discussed that. There are times during the month where I either call leadership or I email leadership and engage them just in conversations that have come up that I need to either inform them of or see if something should be agendized or not. They also are responsible for checking in with the subgroups to make sure that they are doing what they need to do. I thought that would just be helpful to all of you to kind of get an overview of the Chairperson's role. Chair O'Nan: Thank you, Minka. That was really helpful. I didn't realize I was doing all of that. It Approved Page 20 of 26 sounds awesome. I'm incredibly impressed with myself right now. Commissioner Gordon Gray: What about Vice Chair's responsibility? Ms. van der Zwaag: It's basically the backup for the Chair, to do those type of things and to step in when necessary. Commissioner Gordon Gray: Just a backup. Ms. Constantino: Go to agenda planning too. Ms. van der Zwaag: And go to agenda planning as well. Chair O'Nan: Here at the HRC, we have definitely been very open to have people step into leadership. It's helpful sometimes for people to have had some experience, but not necessary. I would like to open the floor to my fellow Commissioners and say does anyone want to nominate anyone for the Chair position? Ms. van der Zwaag: We go through each position one at a time. NOMINATION Commissioner Savage: I'd like to nominate Greer for Chair. Chair O'Nan: All right. Greer's process—hang on. Ms. van der Zwaag: Would you like my hard copy? Chair O'Nan: No, I think I got it. Greer, you've been nominated. You are present at the meeting, which is great. The person who made the nomination can explain why they are nominating that person. Commissioner Savage: I have continually been impressed with Greer and his leadership abilities and his enthusiasm and his wisdom at a young age. I think he would make a dynamic Chair. Vice Chair Stone: Thank you. Chair O'Nan: Then my role is to ask the nominated person are you willing to accept the nomination: Vice Chair Stone: I am. Chair O'Nan: You are, great. Are there any other people who would like to nominate a candidate? Commissioner Gordon Gray: We're working on Chair; we're not ... Chair O'Nan: We're still working on Chair. Approved Page 21 of 26 Ms. van der Zwaag: We do one at a time. Commissioner Gordon Gray: One at a time. Chair O'Nan: Does anyone want to second—that's what we do, right? We second the ... Ms. van der Zwaag: Let's see. Chair O'Nan: If there are no further nominations, the Chair asks for a motion to close the nominations for Chair. Ms. van der Zwaag: Then, that motion is seconded, and then the Commission votes to verbally close the nominations. MOTION Chair O'Nan: Do we have a motion to close the nominations? Commissioner Savage: I move to close. Chair O'Nan: Does anyone second that we close? Commissioner Chen: Second. Chair O'Nan: We second, okay. Then the motion—now we have closed the nominations. Now we do the paper ballot? Ms. van der Zwaag: Yes. Chair O'Nan: In the paper ballot process, we write down the person—there's only one person. Ms. van der Zwaag: There's only one person, so you don't technically have to do it at this time. Chair O'Nan: Then how do we ... Ms. van der Zwaag: Put your hand up. Chair O'Nan: We just do it that way? Ms. van der Zwaag: We can do that. I think it probably would be because we don't know if there's more than one candidate for Vice Chair. I think it'd be a good idea; it's just pro forma just to do both that way. Chair O'Nan: To do both what way? Ms. van der Zwaag: Both that you just grab a ballot, write the candidate's name and just give it to us. Approved Page 22 of 26 Chair O'Nan: We should move on then to Vice Chair? Ms. van der Zwaag: Let's just do this in theory. If you could each take two ballots. Commissioner Gordon Gray: We're just going to put the candidate's name? Ms. van der Zwaag: Yes (crosstalk) your choice. Commissioner Gordon Gray: But not our name ... Ms. van der Zwaag: No, not your name. Commissioner Gordon Gray: ... as the voter. Ms. van der Zwaag: That's correct. Chair O'Nan: Now do we pass the ballots—Minka's going to collect them. Ms. van der Zwaag: That's unanimous. Congratulations. Chair O'Nan: Congratulations. Vice Chair Stone: Thank you. Chair O'Nan: Does Greer take over the rest of the ... Ms. van der Zwaag: He's takes over, and you do the same process for Vice Chair. It's the same thing basically. You open up nominations. Chair Stone: Sounds good. We'll move on to the election of Vice Chair. Is there a nominee—does anyone have a nomination for the Vice Chair? I will go with Commissioner O'Nan. I haven't said that my entire time on here. NOMINATION Commissioner O'Nan: Thank you so much. I would like to nominate Commissioner Stinger for Vice Chair. The reason is that Commissioner Stinger has done a great job on the Commission; although, she's been with us a short time. She previously had experience with the Library Commission. She knows many of the City Council Members; she's worked well with staff. I think she would have a very short learning curve and really do great work as Vice Chair. Chair Stone: Commissioner Stinger, are you willing to accept that nomination? Commissioner Stinger: I am. Thank you. Chair Stone: Does any other Commissioner have any other nominations? Yes. Approved Page 23 of 26 Commissioner Gordon Gray: I nominate Commissioner Chen, because I feel that she's a longstanding member of the Commission. She's very dedicated to the Commission. She's in the community. She's brought in the speakers. I get her commitment and think she deserves to be the Vice Chair. Chair Stone: Commissioner Chen. Commissioner Chen: Can I decline? Chair Stone: You may. Commissioner Chen: First of all, thank you. Thank you for your introduction. I would like to decline. Chair Stone: Any other nominations from any of the Commissioners? Then I would like to nominate Commissioner Alhassani. Commissioner Alhassani, I know you have a young child and very busy. I worked alongside Commissioner Alhassani on the homeless veteran project and that summit was extremely successful and mostly all because of Commissioner Alhassani's tireless working during that time of reaching out and getting the speakers and making that event so successful. He's followed up with that event spectacularly and has kept the momentum going; momentum that was surely deserved after that October summit. I can't imagine anyone better to serve along than Commissioner Alhassani, especially since he was such a great person to serve along on that project. Commissioner Alhassani: I really appreciate the kind words. It was also Mary and Minka and yourself doing a lot of the work. I do need to play the baby card here. I respectfully decline. Ms. van der Zwaag: Someone makes a motion to close the nominations. MOTION Chair Stone: Exactly. Anyone make a motion to close the nomination process. Commissioner O'Nan: I make a motion to close the nomination process. Chair Stone: Do I have a second? Commissioner Gordon Gray: I second. Chair Stone: We'll do the votes. Ms. van der Zwaag: It's unanimous. Chair Stone: Congratulations, Vice Chair Stinger. Wonderful. Approved Page 24 of 26 VI. Reports from Officials – Chair O’Nan 1. Commissioner Reports Commissioner Chen: I have a short report regarding two immigrant speakers about their experience. I have got some emails without names, anonymous. They answer the question I ask them, but there's no name. They are hesitating to come here to talk about experience, but they don't mind just write down the experience. I gave those to Minka. I think she had—she's decided whether we just share between our Commissions. Commissioner Gordon Gray: I'll just give a short report. One thing that came out of the implicit bias conference was a workshop that I attended called Civity. It was put on by one of the attendees. It's the program that comes out of the social sciences department of Stanford. It's all about how to connect with people that are not in your world, basically. They call it un-othering. There are all others, whether it's ethnic or religious or just people that you don't normally interact with for whatever reason. They've created this simple technique for interacting with somebody that you don't know. It gets to the heart quickly. It's not something that builds over time, but it's actually a methodology for doing that. Now we have a homework assignment to have Civity conversations throughout the summer and report back in the fall. It was an interesting conference. There were lots of movers and shakers there, involved in nonprofits and all kinds of social justice work. I got to attend that. It was really great. One other thing is I did mention to Minka that I would recommend having the woman who created this Civity academy come and speak at one of our HRC meetings. Chair Stone: Thank you. Any other Commissioner reports? Commissioner Stinger: I'd like to make a report. I observed the Finance Committee of the Council during their budget presentation a week ago. There were three pieces of that I thought were important to note. One was a lot of appreciation for the work that our Commission has done in the past year. That was nice to hear. I particularly like Karen Holman's support for the HSRAP budget. She very clearly said it's not enough and needs attention. Cory Wolbach's gratitude to the staff. He said, "I was always respectful of Minka and Mary. Now that I see how much they do in a year, I'm floored." Ms. van der Zwaag: He's very nice. Thank you. Chair Stone: Any other Commissioner reports? Commissioner O'Nan: I have one. Chair Stone: Please. Commissioner O'Nan: I am happy to report that Chair Stone and I were both reappointed to the Commission, which is very timely. Otherwise, he couldn't be Chair. Chair Stone: Any other Commissioner reports? I have one. Hopefully by next weekend, I will be proposing. I don't think she's watching. That's the only reason why I announced it. Approved Page 25 of 26 Hopefully by the next meeting, I won't have a ring on my hand unfortunately, but hopefully there will be a yes. If I have a smile on, you'll know why. If I look sad, don't ask. Let's all tell her afterwards, "It's public record, so you can't say no. That'll just be embarrassing." 2. Staff Liaison report. Ms. van der Zwaag: I have several things that I'd like to go over. One is just a follow-up on the Community Services and Facility Element of the Comprehensive Plan. You have looked at a couple of versions. As you remember, your document that was created went to the subcommittee, and a lot of your thoughts were incorporated. The final version is going on May 17th to the community advisory committee. I wanted to thank you again for your hard work. In an email that I sent to you last week about some updates of some Council-related issues that may be of interest to you, I spoke about the two resolutions regarding homeless issues: One from Destination Home and one from the County Housing Services Task Force. They were both on the Council consent calendar on Monday, and both of those passed as well. They are coming up next week, and I'll send it out to you. I sent it to the senior subcommittee. There is another meeting on transportation issues. The last one was from the City talking about our own shuttle program. This is actually VTA hosting a meeting. It's on May 18th, 6:00 p.m. at the Rinconada Library. They're talking about redesigning their transit network to make transit more useful and more cost-effective and maximize connections to BART. They're going all around the county to talk about this. I forwarded this on to a lot of our senior service partners. If you'd like to have any kind of input to what the VTA will be doing, transit system countywide, feel free to come to this meeting. I will send this out to you tomorrow. The other thing is Vice Chair Stinger brought up the Finance Committee meeting was last week. There was an interest by the four members of the Finance Committee to at least have a conversation about HSRAP funding and possibly giving some increases to the HSRAP funding for FY17. Staff has been asked to provide some background information to them, which I have. That conversation will happen in full on May 23rd. It's a meeting from 11:00 to 4:00. I'm not sure where HSRAP will fall in that. Once I know, I will let you know. I'm also letting our HSRAP grantees know that there may be a possibility that the Finance Committee will be discussing that. Obviously, if that's a positive discussion, it goes to the full Council when the full Council discusses the budget on June 13th. The final is on June 20th. Just wanted to give you that update. VII. CALL FOR AGENDA ITEMS (June 9, 2016) Chair Stone: Anyone have any tentative agenda ideas for our next meeting on June 9th? Yes, Vice Chair Stinger. Vice Chair Stinger: If the Finance Committee suggests an increase to the HSRAP budget, I'd like to discuss that. Maybe we could make a statement to the Council on the 13th or the 20th in support of an increase. Commissioner O'Nan: I think that we may have an update on the Healthy Cities Healthy Communities Age Friendly initiative. Since the first meeting will be May 26, maybe we'll have an update by the June meeting. Chair Stone: Sounds great. Approved Page 26 of 26 Commissioner Gordon Gray: If any of us have made a visit to one of our HSRAP nonprofits, we can give an update. I can do that certainly with one of them. Chair Stone: That would be good. Thank you. Commissioner Alhassani: I would like to discuss the landlord event because that will be the week before our event. Chair Stone: We've got a nice full meeting. Vice Chair Stinger: I guess I'd also like to give an update on the follow-up to the implicit bias forum. Chair Stone: Will do. Wonderful. I would like to just commemorate and thank Commissioner O'Nan for serving as Chair for the past—was it 4 years or 3 years? Commissioner O'Nan: Three. Chair Stone: The past 3 years. It was an impressive run. Like I said, I don't know a time on this Commission, most of us don't except for Commissioner Chen and Savage know a time that you were not Chair. Chair O'Nan: I know. I'm like the FDR of the HRC. Chair Stone: Thank you for your service. With that, we're adjourned. Thank you every one. ADJOURNMENT The meeting adjourned at 8:28 p.m.