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Home My WebLink About2023-08-23-LHRC-min-attRoad Map & Goal Setting LHRC 2023/24 Goal: Total Presentation time of 60min OVERVIEW Slides 3-8 (10min) Vision/Mission/Core Values ●Promote Lexington’s vision of a community that has core values freedom from bigotry, hatred, intolerance, disrespect and destructive conflict among its citizens ●Build a stronger, more unified Town that respects and recognizes both our diversity and our commonalities ●Confront statements and actions that conflict with the core values expressed above ●Foster respectful, civil, public discourse and debate ●Vision - A united community that respects and recognizes both our diversity and our commonalities ●Mission - To build a stronger, more unified Town that respects and recognizes both our diversity and our commonalities by fostering respectful, civil, public discourse and debate. And confronting statements and actions that conflict with the core values. ●Core Values - A community free from bigotry, hatred, intolerance, disrespect and destructive conflict among its citizens. The lens we use ●EQUITY - ensuring barriers are actively being dismantled and opportunities are fairly distributed ●INCLUSION - ensuring persons of all identities in the community have an equal seat at the table ●ACCESS - ensuring that resources and opportunities are accessible to all ●REPRESENTATION- ensuring that positions of leadership in Town are represented by a diversity of perspectives (and also interest?) Our charge (what we are empowered to do): ●Public advocacy (Proclamations, Town Meeting Articles- recommendations to SB, Possible letter to editor, Public Statements) ●Develop educational programs (MLK Day CCR, Race Amity, No Hate Nov.) ●Co-sponsoring educational programs (My Am.Story, ..) ●Helping other organizations and Town departments address conflict through consultation and mediation with the parties involved ●Reporting civil rights violations to appropriate government agencies ●Assisting in planning responses to groups, internal or external to the Town, which advocate actions antithetical to the core values Who are the members of our community? Promote Lexington’s vision of a community that has core values freedom from bigotry, hatred, intolerance, disrespect and destructive conflict among its citizens ●Those who live in Lexington ●Students and families who come to Lexington for school ●Those who work in Lexington: Town and School employees, business employees, business owners, caretakers ●Those who visit Lexington: friends and family, tourists ●Others? Those who hope to live in Lexington one day (the future of Lexington) Who we work with Town government & Services Town Manager, Human Resources, Human Services, Police, Fire, Library Public schools Lexington Public Schools pK-12, LABBB, and Minuteman High School Town Committees & Boards Select Board, School Committee, Town Meeting LHRC can serve as a community led accountability group We work with stakeholders* such as Chief Equity Officer, our cultural, faith, and identity based community groups, town committees like Housing, Transportation, Council on Aging, Commission on Disability, Collaborative Reform, and Student Health Advisory Council to understand the equity and inclusion needs of the community. *these efforts are not limited to the groups listed above ●Programming ●Town Meeting Articles - recommendations to the Select Board ●Incident Reporting ●Host Annual Efforts to Reduce Systemic Barriers Report from LPS (build to include municipal side - thanks for LPD) ●Proclamations ●Year-end recommendations to the School Committee and Select Board ●Liaisons to other committees, 2-3 per committee. Meet with chair and/or attend public meetings (Determine this in October) ●Other? How we execute our work (What we do in a year) Developing the goal(s) ●Link GOALS to our Mission, Vision and Core Values ●2 year timeline for the goal(s) ●Determine strategic path and actions to achieve the goal ●Delegate work among LHRC members ●Review progress quarterly ●Finalize Goal at the October meeting, submit to Select Board by Oct 12 Increase resilience of the community against divisive rhetoric and ideology 2 year goal proposal: Vision - A united community that respects and recognizes both our diversity and our commonalities Mission - To build a stronger, more unified Town that respects and recognizes both our diversity and our commonalities by fostering respectful, civil, public discourse and debate. And confronting statements and actions that conflict with the core values. ●Build capacity for Civil Dialogue Discourse (effective communication to understand each other to build human connections, building/maintaining trust): ○Creating a shared vocabulary - Start with understanding Human Rights and Civil Rights. This will help us understand what the LHRC does and hopefully, help the community know what their rights are. ○Building skills - Active bystander training - how to stay in the conversation when things get heated. How to hear/listen to each other. ●Increase the community’s sense of belonging ○Building a stronger sense of community - Programming on seeing that we have more in common than not : Theres a debate on the planning board about affordable housing.Town meeting passed article on zoning. Should we allow payment in lieu or require building of affordable housing. Town meeting as assured that the compensation from the builder be cut in half. LHRC should look at this. ○CPA (community preservation committee) - major discussions about how much money the town should be spending on recreation, historical renov., affordable housing. ○Understanding across cultures and differences in identity- ■Understanding Indigenous perspectives on relationship with land in the context of current challenges with housing ■others? ○Understanding what it means to be inclusive. ■Collaboration with committees working to amplify non-traditional voices GOAL: Increase resilience of the community against divisive rhetoric and ideology Are there proposals for different goals? ● ●Feedback on Goal statement. Are there tweaks? ●What steps/actions (sub-goals) do you propose to reaching the stated goal? ●Are we measuring progress/success? If so, how? ●What aspect of this goal interests you? How do you see yourself supporting this goal? Refining the plan (15min, breakout groups) Reconvene and notes Feedback on the Goal - (tweaking the language)? ● What steps (Sub-goals/actions) do you propose to reaching the stated goal? ● Are there other goals you want to add? ● ●List the sub-goals/steps ●Place the sub-goals/steps in strategic order ●Delegate leadership/responsibility for the various steps/actions listed in the goals ●Are we measuring progress/success? If so, how? Determine pathway: 2 yr timeline 1.LICA 2.Collaborative Reform: Commission on Disability - SH/MR 3.Lexington Police Department - CD, 4.Transportation Advisory Committee 5.Lexington Public School District - LF 6.Minuteman High School - 7.Housing a.LexHAB b.Housing Partnership c.Affordable Housing Trust 8.Cultural groups 9.SEPAC 10.LexPride 11.Council on Aging 12.Commission on Disability (MR, SH) 13.Lexington Lyceum (CL, SH, SJ) 14.Others? Liaisons: ●Connect with key community and Town organizations and entities. This can be in terms of attending meetings or meeting with a representative. ●Report back to the LHRC with updates when appropriate. Goals for the operations of our committee (to be discussed in January) Operational goals aim to support the functions of the committee, expectations of committee members, and Current Organization Chart Chair - Christina Lin Co-Chair - Stephanie Hsu* Clerk - Vacant Community Members - Tanya Gisolfi*, Mona Roy*, Salvador Jaramillo, Amber Iqbal Town Voting Members - Melissa Interess (Human Services), Larry Freeman* (School Committee), Lt. Colleen Dunbar (Police Department) Town Liaisons (Non voting) - Mark Sandeen (Select Board), Eileen Jay (School Committee), Hamali Shah (DEI), Shaun Grady (CoD), SEPAC, Collaborative Reform group Community and Cultural Group Liaisons (Non voting) *denotes term ends Sep’23 ●9 Voting Members (6 Community Volunteers, 3 Town Reps) ●Exec Team: Chair, Vice Chair, Clerk ●3yr terms appointed by SelectBoard/Town Manager Operational goals Fill empty CLERK role on the exec team Immediate Develop Onboarding procedure 6 mo Goal Determine what kind of onboarding training should become incorporated into standard practice 1-2 yr Goal Add student voice to the committee (preferably 2)1-2 yr Goal Build in review process for progress on goals and setting new goals 1-2 yr Goal Expand committee by 2 community appointed volunteers 2+ yr Goal Consider connecting with Human Rights Commission type groups from surrounding Towns 2-3yr Goal Onboarding checklist ●Open meeting law ●Understanding mission and vision of the committee ●Understanding Civil Discourse ●Determine role and responsibilities on the committee (event org, communication, etc) ○How to lead a workgroup ○Process/steps for planning events ○Incident reporting procedure and process ○Community contacts list ○Storing and updating information ●Other (TAB training), Dismantling Racism in Our Town