HomeMy WebLinkAbout2025-02-12-LHRC-min
Town of Lexington Human Rights Committee
Meeting Minutes for Wednesday, February 12, 2025
LHRC MEMBERS PRESENT
Christina Lin, Chair (CL); Stephanie Hsu, Vice-Chair (SH); Stephanie Ryan (SR); Rachel Levy (RL); Judy
Zola (JZ); Dana Bickelman- Town of Lexington, Human Services (DB); Colleen Dunbar, Lexington Police
Department (CD)
Guests - Sara Sheikh; MLK Day of Service committee/Town Celebrations (SS); Johnny Cole, Lexington
Public Schools (JC)
The minutes recorded by Christina Lin
1. Welcome/Call to order –9:01am
2. Committee members agreed to address one another by first name as part of the Town’s
efforts to build more inclusive approaches to addressing members and attendees at
public meetings.
3. Member/Liaison Updates
a. Plug for SHAC 11th Annual Parent & Caregiver Academy - March 22; SHAC
LBTGQ+ Subcommittee
b. Planning Board meeting - Public hearing on Citizens Article STM #2, Feb 12.
Also, Affordable Housing Trust to host community outreach on March 5th and
6th to take in public feedback on design of the Lowell and North Street project.
c. Collaborative Reform Group hosting program on Neurodiversity the Adult
Perspective (May 13 or 15), Fall event will be focused on First Responders
Training for and Response to Mental Health Calls/ WestMetro Home Consortium
on Fair Housing
d. LPS Barriers report coming in the next couple of weeks.
e. Crematory Committee is looking for volunteers.
f. LUAA - March performance of Parade , Temple Isaiah - restarting racial justice
work with focus on gun control - Change Team, Also - LUAA looking to host
another round of Active Bystander Training
g. There has been an uptick in targeted residential break ins. Lexington Police
Department is addressing this concern with the impacted community.
h. CL & SH met with Town Manager, Steve Bartha and other former LHRC Chairs
about CEO role to discuss the Chief Equity Officer role and ideas to make the role
sustainable for the next hire.
4. MLK Day summary
a. SS from MLK Day of Service summarized the 2025 annual event. The
programming and catered refreshments were much appreciated. Successful and
new changes to the program were:
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i. A new intergenerational community service opportunity was launched to
support seniors needing help with technology with help from high school
students.
ii. Access to the Police Department’s Golf Cart to support the Unity March. 3
people took up the offer to ride in the cart and hopefully, there will be more
carts next time.
iii. MLK Day of Service receives minimal funding from the Town Celebrations
Committee (TCC) - $1,000/year. Two other MLK Day events are often
confused with the MLK Day of Service group. Those are ABCL’s MLK
Concert on Sunday and LHRC Conversation on Race. A member asked who
decides the funding distribution for TCC.
b. RL provided a summary of LHRC program. Overall positive feedback about
Loretta Ross as the keynote speaker, the posters on the Women of the Movement
were impactful and suggested reusing the posters for other programs and events
in town (ie - Cary Library). Things to consider for improvements next year are to
bring back the community conversation on race, provide more clarity on
transitions from one event to another and it was still hard to hear the speaker
even with the help of a microphone. Consider seeking ASL support for large
events - can ask for help at local college and offer class credit in exchange.
c. Next actions are to organize the Spring Community Roundtable Gathering - SR
and JZ to take the lead. JC will help identify student involvement.
5. LHRC Charge updates - MS will present the updated Charge to the Select Board.
Changes were made to make the language consistent with other charges, specify size of
the committee to 7 members instead of a range of 5-7 members and to delete
description of Chair, Vice Chair and Clerk roles because this is standard across all
boards and committees. Committee voted unanimously to approve the changes to the
LHRC Charge for presenting to the Select Board; 7-0-0.
6. CEL - grant application for civil discourse deadline is coming up soon. SH offered
to work with SR on writing the grant. Committee members considered the possibility
of using funds, if awarded, towards training for community civil dialogue or to cover
the costs of a speaker for the Community Conversation on Race.
7. The annual LPS Systemic Barriers Report is complex and lengthy. The
committee discussed the need to break down the report to be better prepared when
running through the Q&A on the report. Questions should be submitted in advance so
that the relevant LPS administrators can be present to address those questions.
8. MBTA Zoning and Article 2 will be covered in the evening. The chair provided an
update on the discussion on MBTA Zoning and Article2 and urged members to review
the recording of the hearings from the Planning Board.
9. Meeting adjourned at 10:45am
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