2007-11-06-HRC-min.pdf - Laserfiche WebLink

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incidents. The IRT is an expansion of the town's emergency response team, so that staff and community representatives, including the interfaith clergy association, can work together to respond appropriately to incidents in the community which are not completely handled by informal or official processes. Members of the LNPFHSC have played a role, along with the other IRT members, in reaching out to individuals who have been involved in incidents of bias or civic disruption. Tailoring the response to the wishes of the victim(s)(in terms of public and private responses),and providing personal support, were seen as important aspects of this work. There is also an effort to disseminate facts and achieve some rumor control. Chief Casey said that there are a lot of community resources which come to play with the ebb and flow of conflict resolution needs; the IRT is pulled in 2-3 times a year when those other resources have not been able to ease a situatin; in 2005 when the Westboro Baptist Church was picketing institutions in town, the group met 7-8 times. The town's Disability Commission, and Fair Housing and Human Relations Commissions, Council on Aging, the Department of Social Services and the Human Services Commission, as well as Diversity Committees at individual schools,the schools' prize for diversity work, and the no-longer existing Committee on Racial Equality(whose work in setting up the Martin Luther King Day celebrations was taken on by an individual last year),the LexFest diversity celebration all were named as existing work. The committee noted that each effort is an independent effort. 4. The Committee discussed Human Rights work in other towns. Mr. Manz described the other towns' committees as having a broader mandate than the LNPFH program. These other Human Rights Organizations address not only bias incidents but also housing and access issues. In general they are set up under a Town Manager or a Mayor,but not under a Board of Selectmen. The Committee reviewed material from the Belmont and Newton Human Rights Organizing Committees, and the Massachusetts Organization of Human Rights Committees, provided by Mr. Manz. Newton's Human rights work was introduced into their by-laws in 1973. There is a Commission of 9 members and an Advisory Council, which meet together monthly. For those incidents requiring privacy, a case number is assigned, and public discussions can be held without names being discussed. Mr. Manz had the rough sense that out of about 100 items dealt with,perhaps 2 would require closed meetings (such as developing a strategy for addressing planned protests by out of town organizations). Mr. Manz offered to arrange for representatives of the Belmont and Newton Human Rights organizations to attend the committee's next meeting. Ms. Strod took the first minutes, and Mr. Horton volunteered to take the minutes for the next meeting.