HomeMy WebLinkAbout2025-04-09-LHRC-min
Town of Lexington Human Rights Committee
Meeting Minutes for Wednesday, April 09, 2025
LHRC MEMBERS PRESENT
Christina Lin, Chair (CL); Stephanie Hsu, Vice-Chair (SH); Stephanie Ryan (SR); Rachel Levy (RL); Judy
Zola (JZ); Hafsah Syed (HS)
Liaisons in attendance - Mark Sandeen, Select Board (MS); Dana Bickelman, Director of Human
Services (DB); Juanica Buchanan, Human Services Outreach Coordinator (JB)
The minutes recorded by Christina Lin
1. Welcome newly appointed LHRC member - Hafsah Syed.
2. Minutes Approved – January 08 and January 22, 2024, and March 26, 2025 (5-0-1)
3. Member and liaison updates
a. Upcoming events mentioned were
i. LUAA program “Our Class”
ii. Active Bystander events
iii. Collaborative Reform Group's "Adulting the Neurodivergent Perspective"
program will take place on May 15th.
iv. Mothers’ Day walk led by Louis D. Brown for Peace organization on May 11
v. Thursday, April 17, 2025 is the Lex250 Awards Celebration at Cary Memorial
Building honoring Lexington’s volunteers and unveil VO250
b. Human Services recently hosted an event “Coming out, becoming ourself: Creating a
safety and community past and present” and felt the event was insightful but was
disappointed in the low attendance. The group discussed the need for a more
comprehensive events page on the LHRC website, potentially including all upcoming
events. No one volunteered to lead this effort.
c. Reminder about Annual Town Meeting and upcoming vote on Article 23 regarding
disposition of 116 Vine Street for development as affordable housing
d. CL exploring basics of Free Speech Rights with FIRE (Foundation for Individual Rights
and Expression)
e. RL is connecting with Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism and will keep us
posted on any relevant
4. Update on Tangible Development Work
a. The group discusses various aspects of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives
for the town. They review goals and action items for employee training, communications,
celebrations, and harnessing local diverse talent. The discussion touched on findings
from the Tangible Development report which supported strategies to increase workforce
diversity, including advertising on job sites used by diverse candidates and developing
partnerships with local institutions. Suggestions were made to consider learning from
1625 MASSACHUSETTS AVENUE • LEXINGTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02420
other towns' successful DEI practices and potentially collaborating with Lexington Public
School District, which has made progress in this area. It was noted the Chief Equity
Officer position is currently vacant, and it is unclear what an updated job description will
entail before re-opening the position.
b. DB and JB to attend the Massachusetts Municipal Association's "Demystifying DEI"
training and will report back to the committee.
c. The team discussed the idea of involving the community, particularly children, in
creating a slogan and logo for the town as a way to reinforce the Town’s DEI initiatives.
The team agreed on the need for a clear purpose and strategy for the project to ensure its
success and to involve local businesses and schools. The team also discussed the
potential for the project to become a larger community initiative.
5. Know Your Rights
Immigration Rights
The meeting focused on the importance of posting "Know Your Rights" information on the town
website. The participants discussed the delay in this process and the potential reasons behind it,
such as lack of education or fear of being seen as political. They agreed that this information
should be made available to the community as soon as possible. The group also discussed the
possibility of referencing local, state, and federal sources to support their decision. The
conversation ended with a consensus that the "Know Your Rights" information should be posted
on the town website. The team proposed creating a motion to ask the Select Board to post
information on immigrant rights and protections on the town's website. It was suggested that the
team should review and agree on a specific proposal before presenting it to the Select Board.
The committee discusses how to provide information about immigration rights on the town
website. There was a suggestion to reference only state resources from mass.gov to avoid political
issues, while CL advocated for including additional third-party resources that are easier to
understand. They agree to first push for adding links to the mass.gov information, then consider
proposing a more comprehensive list later. The group also discussed including local contact
information, such as the Human Rights Committee, as a resource for residents with concerns.
Free Speech Rights
CL attended a FIRE Presentation (Foundation for Individual Rights Expression) on Free Speech
rights on campus and felt this would be valuable information for the community. The program
was structured to first cover the basics of speech rights followed by a Q&A. Then offered the
importance of practicing civil discourse to strengthen our use of speech rights and to learn to
confront, accept, tolerate and learn from differences.
Meeting adjourned 11:05am
1625 MASSACHUSETTS AVENUE • LEXINGTON, MASSACHUSETTS 02420