Thank you everybody for coming tonight.

We are going to hear from Dr.

Christa Genebis with the Erie County HRC, the Human Relations Commission.

I asked for the study session as there are a lot of things that are happening in the world right now.

But there's been just a little bit of shifting and some of the things that are happening with the HRC, not to be confused with the other some of the other HRCs that we have recently talked about.

But I just wanted her to come give us some updates on the work that she's been doing and just some of the statistics and why this is such a critical resource right now in the city and how it can be an asset to the community members that we're serving.

All right, thank you.

Yeah, so I am the director of the Erie County HRC.

I started full time in June, so I've not been in this role for very long, but I feel like I've really hit the ground running and uh have done a lot and have a lot to share, and really want to get this in front of as many people as possible because I think there's a lot of work to do.

And I'm gonna talk a little bit about what we do and a little bit about the involvement that the city has, which you do.

Um you have a total of five appointments for either my commission and my advisory board.

Um a lot of the complaint and a lot of things that happen also occur in the city.

Uh so I'm not gonna read that to you, but what we do is we take in uh potential claims of discrimination, and on another slide I'll go over all the different classes.

There's over a dozen different protected classes for the ordinance here in Erie County.

And so we can take in those claims and we can move forward with an investigation and potentially a settlement, a mediation.

Uh this can go to trial if if deemed um necessary to do so.

Um, and we really are kind of a make whole agency.

We want if somebody is being discriminated against, we want what was lost, brought back.

So say they missed uh pay, we want that back.

Say they got evicted, we want that reinstated, or they're missing out on um, you know, AB and C could be multiple things.

A lot of times, not a lot of times, sometimes um it's not monetary uh at all what they're looking for.

Sometimes they just want acknowledgement or a policy change or an apology.

Um, so that is kind of the more official part of what we do.

The other part that the commission does is an educational outreach, uh, which I've been really, really trying since I've started here in early summer, is to have events in the community so people know what we do, how we can help.

Um, and we talk about human relations.

So we work with humans and the relations that are happening in the community.

Um so we do a lot of that too.

Uh important part of what we do is this is about discrimination three main areas, and I highlighted them.

Uh employment, housing, and public accommodations.

So it's discrimination in those three areas that we address.

Uh why is having a local HRC important?

And this is one that I think is necessary to talk about because there is a state HRC, PHRC, but our specific ordinance is more detailed.

Uh includes more classes, protected classes, and when you have a local HRC, you're gonna have more immediate care and more immediate attention to an issue.

Um so I put that on there.

Accessibility.

I mean, if you're talking about sending your complaint to the EEOC or to the PHRC, um they have a lot longer of a list that they're dealing with that they're working through.

Um so accessibility is tough.

Uh you can't just go to the PHRC here and Erie.

You'd have to the closest place to go is Pittsburgh.

Um so that that's a barrier.

We have community insight.

Uh I would like to think that I've worked really hard to make some connections with the community.

So when there is something going on in the community, I'm able to reach out to somebody and get an immediate answer or find out a little bit more.

Investigation on our end with a local HRC is faster because I could say, hey, you know what, I actually know somebody that works at City Hall.

So I I'm gonna call somebody.

Or I know somebody that works with you know social workers, I'm gonna make a call.

Um when you're talking about a statewide or uh a national agency, they definitely don't have that.

Um we provide local trainings, um, we provide local educational sessions, we provide panels so that people can talk about what's going on in the community and what their need is, round tables, things like that.

You're not gonna get that from a state or uh a national.

And there's accountability here where we can maybe move the needle and change things.

Uh so bottom line, I think uh local HRC is incredibly important, and we're lucky that we have one.

And I think the goal now that uh things are moving forward and uh with a good momentum is that we can really have some positive changes.

So these are all the protected classes that we have.

There is, I think 14 on that list.

Um of them are maybe the obvious ones that people they're the things that you can see, right?

But there's a lot that maybe you can't see or you don't think about that are on this list.

Um, some that are on this list that are not on others would be criminal history.

We have protections for folks with criminal history that is not at the state level.

I think that's really important.

Um we also have added protections for sexual orientation and gender identity.

The state does not have that necessarily.

Um they're actually going through a lawsuit right now because they have not appropriately added that to their list of protected classes, they've just kind of put it in a parenthesis after sex to include that.

Um, and so that's important.

And uh the use of a guide or support animal uh is one that we really you know work hard on and making sure that people are aware of um here in Erie County.

That's a little bit different from others.

Okay, the formal structure, and this is where you folks uh the city come into play.

Is we have a com it's the enforcement commissioners.

They're the folks who are going to help rule rule on cases.

Um they're the ones that are gonna sign a closure or sign an order, and we have nine of them, and one of them is appointed by city council.

Um the other ones are uh designated per council member and county executive.

This is an interesting dynamic because we have currently have a political atmosphere where we do not have a county executive who supports the HRC.

So we have two vacancies in the commission, which has actually been making my job pretty difficult.

Um we have a vacancy in the county executive's seat, and he has not appointed somebody, and we also have uh council person uh or councilman, Charlie Bale, who has not appointed somebody.

Um, and that makes it difficult because generally we try to have three people hear uh an appeal or a hearing, and if there's an appeal and they hear it and they overturn that, we can't have the same three here a hearing.

Um there's conflicts of interest, it's just very difficult.

There's conflicts and schedules, so not having that full nine um has been difficult and will be continue will continue to be difficult.

Uh we have an 11-member advisory board, and this one is a little bit different.

This advisory board is supposed to, you know, meant to help the commission in outreach and education, public relations, um, and just in general, make more folks know what's going on.

They help table events, they help put together um different things, and uh the advisory members have been pretty great.

Um, and you have four appointments for that.

This is something that I put on here, and I feel like people think they know, um, but I I would say a lot of my calls that I get coming in to the HRC is really defining with the folks calling whether it is discrimination or whether it could be discrimination.

A lot of folks call uh in thinking that something if they're being harassed.

Well, technically that might be criminal versus discrimination, or something's happening with their house, there's a code violation.

Well, are you the only one that has that in your building?

No, well, then maybe it's not discrimination because it has to be something that's particular to you in that protected class.

So if you have a landlord who is letting your roof fall in, but it's affecting you know both tenants, say if it's a duplex or something like that, then that necessarily wouldn't be discrimination.

So it's really defining what it is.

Um and it's different treatment based on your protected class.

You know, say it could be a code violation issue.

It could be discrimination, could be code violation if your landlord is purposefully not fixing it because you're a man, or because you're a veteran, or because you're um above the age of 40, or because you have children, or because of who you love.

Um, that would be discrimination.

But it's really kind of figuring out are you being treated differently?

Um, and so just defining discrimination is something that I um am doing often.

Real examples, and I gave pretty pretty easy examples of discrimination.

If a same-sex couple applies for apartment and the landlord says, I don't rent to people like you, clearly discrimination.

Uh a qualified woman applies for a supervisor position, but the employer says, We only want a man for that job, discrimination.

A restaurant refuses to seat a family because somebody has um a child uses a wheelchair and says it's gonna block the aisle.

Discrimination, public accommodation.

And we can talk about any of these different protected classes or in the areas of protected classes, but I want to touch a little bit on that last one.

I think there's also confusion on what a public accommodation is.

And a public accommodation is anywhere in Pennsylvania that the public has access to.

So it can be a business.

People think if it's a private owned business that they have the right to discriminate, and they do not.

So there's I say this a lot because it's the story people remember, but there's the story about a bakery in Colorado, or it's a different state that refused to bake a wedding cake for a I think it was a gay couple.

In Pennsylvania, that's discrimination.

So it could be a salon, it could be a barber, it could be a bakery, it could be the park, the public park.

It's anywhere that the public is welcome to patron.

So how does the reporting and recourse work?

This is a super super narrow scope of how it works because there's actually probably multiple ways that it could go.

But the easiest way that you could see it is in this flow chart.

Somebody can make a complaint.

We generally try to vet that complaint.

Like I said, is this probably could this be discrimination?

If they if there is a possibility this could be discrimination, we take we have a form that needs to be filled out and signed.

It can start with a phone call, it can start with a walk-in, it can start with an email, but uh to officially have a complaint, they do have to fill out a form and sign it.

And we do help provide the resources to do that.

We are a neutral body, so when somebody comes in, we can't say, Oh, we're on your side, but we can give you the resources needed.

We help folks type up incidences, we can help um provide a computer if somebody needs it, we you know give them what they need to file the complaint.

Then we'll have that initial review.

We can either go immediately into a mediation because I think the most important thing is mediation first, because a lot of times there's misunderstandings between the parties.

Um, and you want to avoid hearings as much as possible for many reasons.

But a lot of times it is a misunderstanding.

Sometimes uh mediation is enough to get, if it's not a misunderstanding to get the person that responded to do maybe the right thing if they were not doing the right thing, and then we can settle it after that.

Um, if not, we go we continue the investigation, and if there's probable cause, we can put forth a charge.

We do have subpoena power to get information as needed.

Um then if it needs to go to a hearing, it can.

If we have an administrative closure, they have at some point they may have the ability to appeal that.

Um, and everything during the process up until a hearing is confidential.

Uh the hearings are public.

So if it is gonna go to a that's another reason why people want to mediate, they're like, we don't want this out there.

We don't, our business doesn't need this, or you know, AB and C.

So a lot of folks do end up wanting to mediate.

Um, so this is just my intake, meaning folks that have called in with complaints from when I started.

Nine housing, so housing is the highest uh employment and public accommodations kind of are a tie there with four.

Um the majority of the housing complaints involve service animals, evictions, harassment, or issues with the landlord.

Uh employment cases include termination claims, retaliation, um, issues with race, disability, and criminal history are the main topics there.

Public accommodations or denial of services, such as health care, um being removed from a you know for a birthday party, for example, was one of them.

Um DHS services, parking, um, and several complaints reference disability as part of it.

Um big thing being denial of accommodations.

And a lot of times it doesn't fit the bill for what we would they are looking for, so we refer out to other services.

We can refer out to folks like you know, hey, maybe you need to speak to somebody at HUD, United Way, um, maybe you need a case manager, uh, different legal services.

So there are times that we refer out.

Uh I also have current active cases that are docketed at this moment, and we have 24 active investigations right now.

Um five of them are in hold status, and basically what that means is if they have their case with another agency that's larger than us, it'll be on hold until they have a determination.

And then we have six that we've closed.

Um either they've settled or they've been administrative closures.

Um a lot of things that I can observe from these cases, these are cases that I came into.

These are not mine, meaning um I've only been here since June.

These cases existed before me, and now I'm working through them.

Um, but what I can notice is that there are repeat respondents, so um that can mean a few things.

That can mean they're repeat offenders, or that can mean if you have a case with the HRC, you might tell your colleague you should get a case too.

So now there's two cases or three, or you're telling friends.

So it's we don't know if there's a pattern of behavior yet, whether it's the respondent that's in you know the problem.

A B, I'm gonna make up a company, ABC construction.

Um, if there's multiple cases against them, is it actually the business, or is it that um the complaint is letting their colleagues know to also make a complaint, or is it both?

It could be so it's something to keep an eye on because there are multiple repeats um of respondents.

So it's something we think about for sure.

Outreach, some of the outreach part that I've been working on.

Uh, we had uh the being black and eerie panel series, um, race, place, and belonging, that was at the Blasco.

Um, we're gonna have another one um for being black and eerie on October 1st.

That is gonna focus on the younger generation called next in line.

Um, so that'll be October 1st, tentatively.

Um I also will have I have a meeting with um some of the refugee um organizations and talking to those folks about their protections that they have.

Um I had a training with Dr.

Titus, council person Dr.

Titus.

Um we did one on Pride during Pride month, uh it which also offered the community.

If you were a social worker, you could have uh received one and a half hours of credits.

Um I have an upcoming disability rights and protection training that will also provide one and a half credits to social workers and to attorneys.

So that's new.

I applied for that.

Um, and it was just recently approved, so attorneys can also get credit for um attending that session.

And um I've recently been um reaching out to folks at um different employers want uh someone, me or somebody from the commission to come in and talk about um discrimination in the workplace and educating on what it is and how to prevent it.

And so that'll be another outreach arm.

But I am when I say we at the HRSC, of course I have a commission, but they are a board, we meet once a month unless we have hearings.

Um I'm the only staff member at the HRC currently.

Uh so I'm doing all of this myself, and it's a lot.

Um, and I mentioned that for a few reasons, and there's my contacts.

Um, and I have the budget here.

And I talk about the current state of what's happening in our the county.

Um, every year that our current county executive has been in office, he has removed the HRC from the budget.

Um we've been able to get counsel to reinstate it, but we'd need a super veto, usually.

Oh, you do when you have to override that.

And so they've been able to do that for um a few years.

This past year, probably the hardest for them to say yes to um because that there was uh time where it was vacant.

Um so for here's an example.

The budget in 2024, which was passed in 23 when there was somebody, was 260,000.

My current budget is 150.

Um, which is difficult.

So it makes it difficult.

I can maybe hire, I am hopefully gonna hire some per DM help because I really need it.

I need help getting through these cases.

Um, I need help uh with outreach.

Um there's a lot that's going on, and I'm trying, I work probably 50 plus hours every week trying really hard to get all this going because I believe in the mission of the HRC, and I think with the right people there, um, it could be something that's really great and important and impactful for the community.

Um so I share that because the city also does contribute to that budget by $15,000.

Um, so there is a budget line item for $15,000 a year that the city contributes to the HRC.

Our HRC office is located in the city.

Um, it is uh the bottom of the Masonic Temple on the floor level.

We just acquired it a month ago.

Um it has window space, so I can put the events on the windows, people are gonna see it every time they walk by.

Um and so I I think that's we're making all positive everything that's happening is a positive step.

Excuse me.

I think that's uh that's kind of it.

Any counselors have questions not necessarily a question, it's just that when you refer to the budget, um I just know that this is an election year, so hopefully people who are listening and paying attention um are paying attention because November 4th, you know, we have a chance to not re-elect the current county executive.

So the other do any other municipalities contribute?

No.

That's a good thought.

I didn't think of that.

Yeah.

Uh difficult, but I think about that.

We've been having this conversation a lot with some of the things that we've had to make decisions on.

Um, so it's kind of top of mind for us as we're navigating through some of this.

Sure.

And yet this is countywide.

Yes.

And I'm so thankful that you do believe in the mission.

I believe in the HRC.

In years past, I was the liaison and attended meetings.

It is very important to have enough people to have a certified meeting.

Is there any way we can get other county council people to get another person on there besides um, you know, to Charlie Bale, obviously.

Yeah.

Um, I think the way that it is now is it has to be recommended by the current council person.

I've was talking with a few people that there could be an ordinance that's passed that when someone refuses to fill a vacancy that that could be overridden by the majority, but as of now, it has to be agreed on by the district.

Yeah, by the district, yeah.

Person representative.

I thank you because people need somewhere to go to advocate for them and to be there for them.

And it's important on a countywide level to you know continue and not just rely on the state.

You know, the whole state of Pennsylvania is definitely bogged down with all their problems.

Yeah.

So it's great to have something at the county level.

Absolutely.

How active is your advisory council.

Uh I think, you know, right now we're meeting uh we my commissioners meet every month, but my advisory council we meet every other month.

I think that could be something that I'd like to change.

Um because we are so active and I'm having multiple events every month.

Um, they do help with those events.

Um I think this is an eerie appointment.

Edison Nicholson has been very active.

Uh our roundtable event that we're having that you all will be getting a letter in the mail soon, um, is gonna be at his nonprofit.

It'll be at the uh leadership institute, the youth leadership institute.

He's been very active.

Um Alex Vaughn's been really active.

Yeah, so I have a I have a good advisory council.

Um that's one that's a little bit larger, so when I'm missing the two appointments, it's okay.

It's it I'm more hurting on the commissioner's side for sure.

How many report or calls would you say you get a week?

Just it could be it could be 20 one week and like two the next.

And I think also because this was vacant for so long.

Uh a year is a long time.

Um it's taking a little bit of time to for people to realize one, we exist again, or if they knew we existed at all, which I've finding a problem.

Um, I mean, I wouldn't be offended if you told me you didn't know it existed at this table.

I know you knew, and I knew you knew, but if you didn't know, I wouldn't be surprised.

Um a lot of folks didn't know, so that's why the outreach part is really important.

Um so I think as we push outreach, I mean, I imagine the phone will be ringing every day several times a day.

But it it varies right now.

Yeah.

It increases whenever there's an event, as you can imagine.

No, it looks like the city council people are doing their job with appointing for the advisory board if she has a good response with that group.

Um, I guess we work around the county, you know, county council appointments and so otherwise, um which is why it's important for people to participate in these local elections.

Um which is why it's important for people to participate in these local elections.

I think my ask would be if you know that there's an event or if you think that there's a way that you have connections to be helpful for any of the things that we're trying to do.

Um, you know, I have all those different outreach, but there's like I said, over 14 different protected classes.

Um I'd like to do one specifically for age.

I'd like to do one specifically for you know all the different protected classes.

Um there's a lot of them.

But if you think that you have a way to help me with that, or if you can promote any of the events that we're having, or if you know anyone that has a complaint, a possible complaint of discrimination, please refer them.

Okay.

Well, we and I know we lot an hour for this.

Um my goal tonight was we do have the budget season coming up.

This is part of our budget.

We have appointments.

I think it's just important for council members to know what we're paying for, but then also who we're appointing and the work that is being done, and then to just help get this information out to the public.

Um but if we want to give everybody half hour back of their evening, I think that that's okay.

Dr.

Um Genevas, like we have like different festivals and different activities, and um I know it you know, you're definitely overworked, but if anyone perhaps, you know, there's that information flyers and they could set up a little table at these different fests coming up uh in the fall, like at the Hispanic Fest and the Irish Fest and things like that, you know, maybe you know, just to keep getting the word out there with the advisory committee doing that or something.

Yeah, so if you think of tabling events as well, uh you're in the community.

So if you think there's a no you know possibility for me to table at something, if it's not me and my advisory council can do.

Yeah, absolutely.

Please.

Thank you.

Thank you so much for coming.

I appreciate it.

Thank you for giving this information out there.

Thank you.

Thank you so much.

Happy they filled the role after a year.