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  • July Task Force Meeting Summary

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    Date: July 16, 2025

    Time: 7:00 PM to 8:00 PM

    Location: Virtual - Microsoft Teams

    Task Force Member Attendance: Bianca Dawkins, Jan Stone

    Task Force Members Absent: Elly Doscotch, Jonathan Rogers, Pranika Kumar, Jim Nelson, Jasmine Stringer-Moore

    Staff In Attendance: Thomas Brooks, Zoe Johnson

    Public Members in Attendance: Ellen Kennedy

    1. Welcome & Introductions

    2. Meeting Topic(s)

    A. Staff Presentation - 15 minutes

    No formal agenda for the meeting. Open discussion format for task force members to give insight on the work that has been/would be most impactful for previous human rights and relations commissioners.

    Considerations are:

    • What work is most meaningful to you all as volunteers?

    The discussion started with acknowledging City Code language task force members worked to develop for a policy statement (see below). It was discussed the policy section actually no longer exist in city code for commissions, but advised them that language could be valuable in the purpose section. Task force members were advised there is no policy, particularly statute or statewide policy, that governs their work; only council direction.

    Proposed policy/purpose language:

    Secure for all who work, do business, play, reside, or visit in the city of Edina freedom from discrimination in employment, housing, real property, public accommodations, public services, education, credit, business services, and other rights included in the Minnesota Human Rights Act, Minn. Stat. ch. 363A.

    Task force member discussed the challenges of honoring tradition of previous human rights and relations commission work with balancing transformative vs transactional work, complimenting staff’s work, and amplifying versus competing with similar work in other groups like the Multicultural Advisory Committee (MAC), and community groups engaged in similar programming and planning efforts. Engaging in equity audits and being aligned with staff has been a positive and desire for future work. The Tom Oye Award and the most recent Sharing Values. Sharing Communities event centering the LGBTQ+ community were mentioned as commission successes that felt meaningful. A community member spoke about a need to focus collectively on raising awareness on discrimination against women and gender expansive people.

    Task force members discussed not being sure what the primary needs are in Edina related to human rights. Additional discussion was had on the MAC as a group that if often first in line to both bring issues to the city and to receive/respond to human rights issues in the community based on their position in the city, relationship with the police department and Hennepin County, flexibility to meet, and the cultural organizations they represent, lead or partner with.

    • What research do we have from other cities on what they do?

    Task force member Stone researched the names, purposes, and city codes for human rights or DEI related commissions in other cities in Minnesota. Initial findings were a lack of consistency in the code language and the scope of each commission, and not all commissions were listed in city code. Discussion was prompted by a community member on the reason so many cities in Minnesota have transitioned from human rights commissions to DEI related commissions and considered the sustainability of DEI in today’s climate. The evolution of human rights work in cities and communities was discussed along with the alignment between commission work and city goals and staff priorities. They are also directly engaged in cultural event planning and programming efforts throughout the city and in partnership with Richfield and Bloomington. The desire was expressed to hear from the MAC and the different cultural organizations on their priorities and focus areas.

    Challenges were discussed related to the previous commission structure receiving and responding to complaints or human rights issues in a timely manner, as well as planning events, particularly multiple events per year.

    3. Adjournment - 8:30pm

    Staff volunteered to gather additional information from others on the information discussed throughout the meeting for additional perspectives and seek additional information from the MAC to better understand the overlap. The next task force meeting is scheduled for August 20, 2025.

  • June Task Force Meeting Summary

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    Date: June 18, 2025

    Time: 7:00 PM to 8:00 PM

    Location: Virtual - Microsoft Teams

    Task Force Member Attendance: Jim Nelson, Bianca Dawkins, Jan Stone, Jasmin Stringer-Moore (Remote)

    Task Force Members Absent: Elly Doscotch, Jonathan Rogers, Pranika Kumar

    Staff In Attendance: Thomas Brooks

    Public Members in Attendance: Meriwether Felt, Lisa Tabor (CultureBrokers, LLC)

    1. Welcome & Introductions – Co-Chair Dawkins & Nelson

    2. Meeting Topic(s)

    1. Staff Presentation - 15 minutes

    Staff Liaison Thomas Brooks gave the final presentation on the Equity Strategic Action Plan for 2025-2027.

    A final presentation was provided on the strategic priorities identified in the Equity Strategic Action Plan (ESAP). An overview was provided of the process to date, including developing the Equity Framework and the Diamond Inclusiveness Assessment Survey (DIA) completed staff, community, and city partners. The results of the DIA informed the strategic priorities for the ESAP.

    The DIA showed Natural Environment as a strength, meaning a majority of respondents could see the investment and efforts toward sustainability throughout city spaces. The survey dimension with the lowest percentage of agreement was Built Environment, meaning most respondents were not able to see or feel their cultures, identities, needs, or disabilities included in city spaces and facilities. The biggest area for growth – opportunity to impact all DIA dimensions and future work – was Human Development (Capital). This dimension also had a low amount of agreement and a high percentage of ‘I don’t know’ responses indicating more work is needed in leveraging data in day-to-day decision making in the city AND communicating how decisions are made with data to staff and community.

    Teams of city staff worked to develop project plans for the priorities related to improving our Built Environment and Human Development with goals and milestones identified through 2027. As goals are completed through 2027, the priorities will evolve and/or new priorities will be identified based on the DIA survey results and organizational needs. This plan was adopted by city leaders in June 2025. The two strategic priorities are listed below, and progress can be tracked by community through a public dashboard found on EdinaMN.gov/Diversity-Equity-Inclusion.

    • Built Environment:

    Strategic Improvement: This organization's spaces accommodate different cultural needs and includes easy-to-see and understand wayfinding signage throughout its spaces.

    SMART Goal: By December 31, 2026, up to two public facing City of Edina buildings will reflect at least three of our city's cultures in its main entry/reception or public areas.

    • Human Development:

    Strategic Improvement: The city routinely collects and uses disaggregated demographic data and community input to better understand and serve all residents, visitors, employees, and program participants, ensuring that decisions and services reflect the needs of those most impacted.

    SMART Goal: By December 2026, develop a consistent process for collecting and storing demographic data for city-wide roll out.

    Task force and public members were able to ask questions and provide feedback throughout the presentation including providing recommendations on including community input throughout the Built Environment process and using a rubric previously created by the Human Rights and Relations Commission.

    3. Adjournment

  • May Task Force Meeting Summary

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    Date: May 21, 2025

    Time: 7:00 PM to 8:30 PM

    Location: Edina Public Works – Multi-purpose Room

    Task Force Member Attendance: Jim Nelson, Bianca Dawkins, Jan Stone, Pranika Kumar, Jasmine Stringer-Moore (remote)

    Task Force Members Absent: Elly Doscotch, Jonathan Rogers

    Staff In Attendance: Thomas Brooks, Zoe Johnson, MJ Lamon

    Public Members in Attendance: Colleen Fiege, Leann Weber, Hilda Martinez, Bonnie Padilla, Meriwether Felt, Ron Jarvi Jr., Theresa Farrell-Strause, Tim Scully, Alana Zbaren, Cory Lukens, Joni Bennett, Roger Bildsten, Ann Curtin, Dave Schneider

    • Welcome & Introductions – Co-Chairs Dawkins and Nelson
    • Meeting Topic(s)

    A. Staff Presentation – 15 minutes

    Staff Liaison Thomas Brooks presented on Board and Commission Experience Survey Results

    Current and former board and commission members had an opportunity to complete a survey administered March 2025 to evaluate boards and commissions. Participants were able to rate satisfaction in a number of areas and provide direct feedback to better understand successes, challenges and opportunities for improvement, and ways advisory bodies can be improved in the city.

    B. Group Table Discussions – 50 minutes

    Community Engagement and Special Projects Manager, MJ Lamon to facilitate workshop discussions on commission for all attendees on Recruitment, Communication, Diversity & Inclusion, and Roles.

    Recruitment (i.e. application, interview, orientation)

    Successes Word of mouth, neighborhood associations, large applicant pools, social media, improvement of application
    Challenges Gender and racial imbalance, lack of accomplishments, continued attendance challenges, no chair involvement in the interview process, lack of minimum qualifications, clarity of commissioner roles
    Solutions
    • Involve the chair in the interview process when one commission is selected by applicant
    • Expand panel and duration of interviews
    • Sensitivity to cultural diversity on specific commissions
    • Training specific to each commission charter
    • Opportunity for in person interviews
    • No seniors: recruit sophomores and juniors
    • Add video component to application process


    Diversity & Inclusion

    Successes Broadly defined diversity at application, deepen diversity within application pool, have initiatives that provide direct support with community
    Challenges Lack of cultural awareness on commissions, language barriers, lack of funding for translational services, modes of engagement, more presentation from renters
    Solutions
    • Diversity training
    • Demographic data per commission
    • Enhance outreach efforts to underrepresented communities
    • Connect with Jack & Jill, Edina Give & Go, and other nonprofits to build diverse relationships
    • Spread more awareness of resources available to help people in need; shine a light on city partners


    Communication

    Successes Staff liaisons to commissions, regular email communications, member to member communication, info distributed timely
    Challenges Inconsistent communication with different structure of meetings, communication with other city staff or liaisons, multi-city communication, respect among members, toxic masculinity, tendency to go off on tangents
    Solutions
    • Improve collaboration with commission and city staff
    • More transparency around budget and work plans
    • Improve feedback from city council to understand limitations; commissions do not want to work on projects that will not be adopted by council
    • Shift commission priorities to better align with city goals
    • Commission chair training
    • Stay on time, focused agendas


    Roles

    Successes Funnels up into elected roles, transparent and published information to the public, work plans, onboarding packet, passionate commission members, good engagement, staff liaisons are great, develops experience to better serve community
    Challenges Work plan binding, lack of transparent of requirements/roles, lack of understanding roles & scope, untapped resource of professional expertise, changes to work plans not communicated, very slow process for tangible results, lack of understanding of Roberts rules, inconsistent design student work allocation
    Solutions
    • Should be advisory and not a buffer for council decisions
    • More info upfront during application process
    • Orientation in person or online to ask clarifying questions
    • Specific orientation for each commission
    • Improve interactions with commissions and council; commissions often left in the dark from council decisions
    • Chair/Vice Chair training on meeting facilitation
    • Intra-commission discussions to evaluate commission challenges and solutions


    • Final Updates & Adjournment

    Feedback received through the workshop portion of the meeting will be used by the task force in future meetings to identify possible recommendations for commissions and advisory bodies in the future. Attendees were made aware of potential legislative changes that may impact commission attendance and accessibility, specifically remote attendance requirements. Next Meeting is June 18th and will be held at virtually through Microsoft Teams to receive the Final Equity Strategic Action Plan (ESAP) Presentation and is open to the public to attend.

  • April Task Force Meeting Summary

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    Date: April 23, 2025

    Time: 7:00 PM to 8:00 PM

    Location: Online

    Task Force Member Attendance: Jim Nelson, Bianca Dawkins, Elly Doscotch, Jan Stone

    Task Force Members Absent: Jasmine Stringer-Moore, Jonathan Rogers, Pranika Kumar

    Staff In Attendance: Thomas Brooks

    Public Members in Attendance: No public members were in attendance

    1. Welcome & Introductions – Co-Chair Dawkins

    2. Co-Chair Appointment – 5 minutes

    Co-chair Daisy Khalifa resigned from the task force on April 15th but stated she is very supportive of the work of the task force and will continue to attend meetings as work and travel scheduling allow. Co-Chair Bianca Dawkins called for a new co-chair and Jim Nelson volunteered and selected as new co-chair.

    3. Meeting Topic(s)

    A. Staff Presentation – 20 minutes

    Staff Liaison Thomas Brooks presented on Equity Framework Final Draft

    Thomas presented on the Equity Framework Final Draft which was adopted by the Executive Leadership Team and Race Equity Advancement Team also on 4/23. The final content of the Equity Framework will be added to the final ESAP document. Staff will work with Communications on ensuring the information is accessible to both staff and the public. Input was received from staff stakeholders in addition to the HRE Task Force. Task force members provided good insight into ensuring the document did not include “othering” language and centered community as well as staff.

    Feedback was provided that the term partner should be further clarified and the term heritage within the Vision statement should be revisited.

    B. Staff Presentation – 25 minutes

    Staff Liaison, Thomas Brooks presentation on DIA Gap Report Analysis

    Thomas Brooks presented on the results of the DIA Gap Report including demographic information collected in aggregate as well as the strengths, weaknesses, and opportunities identified through the results of the 8 dimensions in the Diamond Inclusiveness Assessment (DIA).

    • Natural Environment, most closely connected to Environmental Sustainability, was identified as the organization’s strength
    • Built Environment, most closely connected to the City’s physical facilities, was identified as the organization’s weakness (most dimension of opportunity), as it had the largest percentages of disagreement among staff and community members.
    • Human Development, most closely connected in investing in people – staff and community, was identified as the area of opportunity with potentially the most impact for change, based on the needs of the organizations, other strategic initiatives, and DIA results indicating higher percentages of disagreement and “I don’t knows” between both staff and community.

    City staff leaders determined on 4/23 to focus on developing strategic priorities for Built Environment and Human Development. Within those two dimensions, staff project teams are being formed to develop SMART goals and project plans to achieve the following statements (or a variation of):

    • Built Environment: “This organization’s spaces accommodate different cultural needs and includes easy-to-see and understand wayfinding signate throughout its space.”
    • Human Development: “This organization uses demographically diverse data and input from people involved in or affected by the organization to meet its mission for all residents, community members, visitors, program participants, and employees.”

    Next Steps: The identified SMART goals by city staff will be communicated to task force members in May for consideration and feedback. The task force is scheduled to receive a presentation on the final report at the June task force meeting.

    4. Final Updates & Adjournment

    Next Meeting is May 21st and will be held at Edina Public Works to discuss the Board and Commission Experience Survey Results.