Human Relations Commission — Skokie, IL
Date: 2023-11-27

Human Relations Commission
 Monday, November 27, 2023
 6:30pm

Location: Village Hall, 5127 Oakton Street – Lunchroom (1st Floor)

 AGENDA

I. Call to Order


II. Approval of Agenda


III. Approval of Minutes of October 23, 2023


IV. Committee Reports

 A. Neighbor Engagement Committee
 1. Block Party Forum, Awards, Promotion
 a) Block Party of the Year Award Applications
 2. Know your Neighbor
 3. 4th of July Parade

 B. Housing Committee Updates
 1. Housing Subcommittee
 2. Fair Housing Ordinance

 C. Equity and Diversity Committee Updates
 1. Early Intervention Hate/Bias Incidents
 2. Black History Month
 3. Unite Against Racism w/ YWCA
 4. Skokie Festival of Cultures
 5. Skokie Juneteenth
 6. Skokie Pride
 7. SEED Training


V. Other Items of Business
 A. Village Seal Redesign


VI. Adjourn



Next Meeting: Jan 22, 2024, 6:30pm at Village Hall 5127 Oakton Street, Skokie IL. 60077

Human Relations Commission
 Monday, November 27, 2023
 6:30pm

Location: Village Hall, 5127 Oakton Street – Lunchroom (1st Floor)

In Attendance: Commissioners: Deborah Arnold, Sheryl Bloom Basile, Alexander Chaparro, Sheila
Crumrine (vice-chair), David Donegan, Krishna Goyal, Marcos Levy, Joseph Meyers, Maria Monastero
Bueno (chair), Jeremy Segall, James Specker, Trustee Khem Khoeun; Skokie Staff Liaison: Amanda Sabri

Not in Attendance: Anthony Agee (E) Jonathan Lavin (E), Swarupa Pahan (E), Ralph Ruebner (E), Karen
Sherman, Mayha Syed (E).

I. Commission Potluck: 6:30pm


II. Call to Order: 7:20pm


III. Approval of Agenda
 A. Sheryl Bloom Basile motioned to approve the agenda, motion seconded by Deborah
 Arnold.


IV. Approval of Minutes of October 23, 2023
 A. Sheryl Bloom Basile motioned to approve the minutes as written, motion seconded by
 Deborah Arnold.


V. Committee Reports

 A. Neighbor Engagement Committee
 1. Block Party Forum, Awards, Promotion
 a) Alex Chaparro reported that he reached out via phone, text and email to
 all individuals who had indicated that they wanted to apply for the Block Party
 of the Year Award and five responded with submissions. Timing is on track for
 the Block Party Forum to be held on 2/27/24 from 6pm – 8pm. It will hopefully
 be held at the Skokie Public Library but they do not allow for reservations this
 far in advance. Officer Wilken has confirmed his availability. Amanda Sabri will
 follow-up with the Village Manager’s office to determine when the Block Party
 Awards can be added to the agenda of a Village Board of Trustee’s meeting.
 b) Amanda Sabri presented a slide show of the five Block Party of the Year
 Award applicants. Commissioners each voted on their top three choices and the
 selected winners were:
 (1) 3500 Arcadia St
 (2) 4600 Grove St
 (3) 4600 Elm Terrace
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 2. Know your Neighbor: No updates.
 3. 4th of July Parade: Alex Chaparro reported that the committee has discussed the
 need for increased commissioner participation. It was also discussed that a QR
 code for block party applications would be helpful. The idea was raised about
 having the QR code on a sticker that is attached to a sucker, pinwheel or
 necklace that could be handed out. It was also discussed that an alternative to
 QR codes may be helpful for those who are not able to use them (such as web
 address).

B. Housing Committee Updates
 1. Housing Subcommittee
 a) The Housing Subcommittee has had two meetings on October 23 and
 November 7. Jonathan Lavin provided an update via email, which Amanda Sabri
 read to the commission. He reported that the subcommittee is seeking themes
 to build the revised chapter on housing. In particular, they are discussing how
 values and principles can be challenged by new types of situations related to
 housing. Committee members were requested to continue to assign comments
 to themes that they had begun to list.
 b) Trustee Khem Khoeun provided an update that the Village Board
 recently voted on the Inclusionary Housing Ordinance and it did not pass. She
 stated that the Village Board still believes in the principles of affordable housing
 and believes that we should have something in place to support affordable
 housing but they are still working on an agreement of what the details will need
 to look like. Trustee Khoeun provided some of the discussion and data that has
 gone into their decision-making process.
 2. Fair Housing Ordinance: No updates.

C. Equity and Diversity Committee Updates
 1. Early Intervention Hate/Bias Incidents: Trustee Khem Khoeun provided an
 update that two meetings were held in November. One meeting was held with
 Village staff and Professor Brian Levin of California State University, who is very
 knowledgeable about data tracking and is involved in many of the conversations
 around the country regarding tracking of hate & bias incidents. The second
 meeting was held with Detective Martinez of the LA Police Department who was
 able to share what has worked well and what hasn’t worked well in hate crime
 and bias incident reporting in the LA Police Department. Trustee Khoeun
 explained that it was decided at this time it may be too soon to bring the
 program to the commission but staff will begin evaluating how we collect data
 and consider alternate options of data collection and reporting. David Donegan
 inquired if any other local municipalities have a similar process. Trustee Khoeun
 responded that the City of Chicago & Cook County have a Hate Crimes Task
 Force or something similar but no other municipalities have a similar initiative as
 far as she is aware. David Donegan also inquired about the Village’s available
 data systems. Trustee Khoeun explained that Skokie PD is currently tracking
 hate crime & hate bias incidents. Detective Martinez also had additional data
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 points that Skokie PD may consider incorporating into their data tracking.
 Amanda Sabri also reported that the Village does have a system that is used for
 the intake and tracking of data and could likely be used for this purpose as well.
 James Specker inquired about how hate crime and hate or bias incidents are
 defined. Trustee Khoeun explained that the definition of a Hate Crime is very
 specific and a crime has to occur, while a hate or bias incident is something that
 falls short of meeting the definition of a hate crime. Often times the distinction
 is not clear to the average person and the police must investigate the incident
 and make this decision. James Specker commented that he is on the Police Use
 of Force Commission and it was discussed at their meetings that a
 disproportionate number of calls are made to police dispatch to report on Black
 youth. He inquired if this call would be counted as a bias incident due to the
 nature of the call. Trustee Khoeun reported that this has not previously been
 brought forth and thanked James for adding this to the discussion. Personal and
 community experiences of bias and discrimination were discussed by
 commissioners. It was suggested that the commission could possible host
 trainings or discussions on implicit bias for the community.
2. Black History Month: Sheila Crumrine updated the commission that she met
 with Ella Whitehead, Assistant Director of Enrollment for Equity Outreach at
 Oakton College, and Janeen Jackson, Equity Coordinator for Black Student
 Success at Oakton College, on November 2nd. They had a constructive
 conversation and brainstorming session. Oakton has plans to celebrate Black
 History Month 2024 during the week of February 18-22. The highlight of their
 week is the presence on the Des Plaines campus of Adrian Miller, author of
 many books including Soul Food: The Surprising Story of an American Cuisine. A
 discussion was held regarding whether the commission would like to financially
 co-sponsor Adrian Miller’s trip and honorarium and have a local Skokie reading
 group of his book as well as possibly live stream of the event at the Skokie
 Oakton campus. It was decided that since his main presence will be at the Des
 Plaines campus, it would not be a good fit for the Human Relations Commission.
 Sheila then gave an overview of the events Skokie Public Library is hosting for
 Black History Month. There was a discussion of the commission sponsoring one
 of the movies that the library is planning to host this year and whether it was
 appropriate to partner with the library this year, when the events are already
 planned, or if it would be better to start a more collaborative planning process
 with them now to plan something for 2025. It was determined that it would be
 best for the Diversity Committee to work on a collaborative approach to a
 developing a program for 2025. Sheila and the committee will continue to work
 with the Skokie Public Library and the larger Skokie community on these efforts.
3. Unite Against Racism w/ YWCA: Sheila Crumrine provided an update that she
 spoke with Heather Sweeney, who has taken over for Eileen Heinemann as the
 coordinator for this event. She reports that the event will be in April 2024 but a
 date has not been set. They expect to make some changes to the usual rally and
 discussion format but the finalized details are not yet available. More details
 will be available after January.
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 4. Skokie Festival of Cultures: No Updates.
 5. Skokie Juneteenth: No Updates.
 6. Skokie Pride: Sheila Crumrine provided an update that she spoke with Cassey
 Schaffer at the Skokie Park District and the event will be taking place on June 23,
 2024 from 1-4pm. Planning will begin in January and there may be a small fee
 for table registration.
 7. SEED Training: David Donegan provided an update that they are hoping to
 increase promotion of the SEED program among Village staff and commissioners
 for the next cohort.


VI. Other Items of Business
 A. Village Seal Redesign: Maria Monastero Bueno reported that the Village Seal Committee
 met today and there were 9 applications submitted by design firms and/or individual
 artists. The committee decided on 4 artists/firms who will be requested to come in for
 short presentations and interviews with the committee in early January 2024.
 B. Commissioners were reminded of a Cookie Walk and Coffee Mug campaign benefiting
 Skokie Community Foundation, as well as the HHS Assist-A-Family Program.


VII. Adjourn: 9:10pm




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