Commissioners, I'm gonna start turning the microphones on just so you guys know.

Oh I didn't just say it like that, but I think she can recommend it.

Um that's not the public to identify yourself for somebody saying a lot on them.

I don't oh no.

I don't know uh too much enough.

Thank you.

But are you re you able to read?

Oh, we'll do the record.

That's what I need.

Oh, yeah.

Well, that's what makes my life easier.

The twenty twenty-sixt order.

Um we start with a roll call, please.

Commissioner Barrero.

Commissioner Bravo.

Commissioner Brown.

Present.

Commissioner Credit.

Commissioner Garwick.

Absence.

Commissioner Call.

Absent.

Commissioner Martin.

Absolutely.

Commissioner McDowell.

President.

Commissioner Puquera.

Present.

Thank you.

The uh first thing on our agenda is the acceptance of the Journal of Proceedings for the Community Relations Commission.

Held on December 11th, 2025.

We'll entertain a motion to approve.

I approve.

Do we have a second?

Sorry.

And any discussion related to the minutes from the last meeting.

Okay.

No discussion.

All in favor, say aye.

Any opposed?

The journal is approved.

Do not believe we have any public speakers tonight.

So we'll move to our unfinished business from the previous meeting.

You all have in your packet the annual report that normally goes to the mayor.

So those who were here last month, you all saw the draft version of it.

I just made a few minor tweaks based on what we talked about.

I think today would be a good day to approve that and send it off to the mayor.

So give you all a ch a chance to review if you need it, otherwise we can uh entertain a motion to approve.

I still approve.

Do we have a second?

Okay.

Do we have any discussion related to the report?

All in favor of approving the 2025 annual plan.

Say aye.

Aye.

Aye.

Any opposed?

The plan is approved.

So the next thing is developing our agenda for the strategic planning session.

And actually, I'm gonna let Michaela walk us through that because we have a nice tentative agenda in front of us.

Hi everybody.

Hi.

I'm getting really excited about our strategic planning session.

Um this I did share this before.

Everybody's really seemed to like it, so I wanted to do it one more time because it was a few months ago, um, and make sure that we're on board with that before I finalize things for our planning session.

So obviously we'll talk about the year in review, um, some organizational organizational effectiveness for the group.

We've talked about things about um communication flow, um, how to communicate certain things out to the group, how we would like the CRC to be communicating.

We had that email set up, and then we ran into um some issues with like the open meeting act and things of that nature to make sure that we're complying with all those things.

So just having some discussion around that.

Um then before we break into the small groups, there's gonna be community needs and landscape scan, and really that's just to kind of talk about um what we've discovered over the last couple of years, what areas that you all personally feel are gaps that you'd like to address or discuss, um, things of that nature is what that discussion will really take place, but the bulk of our time is gonna be spent in small group discussion ideas.

So in your um packet, it's a very basic um format here, but there are on the agenda there's six dip we're gonna break into three small groups, um, so I hope everybody can attend.

I think there's one commissioner that cannot.

Um, but we're gonna break into three small groups and um two if we have to, and I'll divide the small group discussion ideas, they're like priority areas within our community, um, up between those groups, and then we're gonna use our sheet here to develop goals, action steps, um, a lead person.

So in the past, we've done subcommittees.

There might be some items that we're gonna have to have subcommittees on, um, and then a timeline for that.

I'd like to plan out the next two years.

Some items might only take six months, some might take 12, some might take the full two years.

So, based on your group discussion, uh, you guys are gonna be determining what those timelines are going to be, and then there's going to be outcomes.

What are we gonna want to see happen from these these action, these goals and these action steps?

Um, and then we're gonna take these sheets that you all do, and that's how we're going to build our action plan for 2026 and 2027.

Um, because we want to make sure that our agendas are what you guys are passionate about, what you're hearing about from the community, um, and things that align with the the commission's um mission and what they're supposed to be doing.

So, do you guys have anything that's not on the agenda that you would like to see?

I think something is not in that we've discussed.

Okay.

Is there a priority area or a discussion topic that anybody has preference to be in?

Because I will I'm gonna break these up and then assign them because I'm gonna have um cards and everything at your guys' tables to um give discussion topics, kind of like starter things, rumble starters, that sort of thing to get you all going.

I guess housing will have to be one of our biggest topics.

Okay.

You'd like to be on that one, Jaria.

Oh, of course.

Okay.

All right.

Anyone else?

I would like to be on that one as well.

Very jude.

Okay.

Thank you.

I'd like to be on that one as well.

Okay.

Michaela, you're talking about number six on the last page, right?

That has all of the um, I mean, I think for me, obviously, accessibility and disability inclusion, but I would also add what I don't see here that we've talked about a lot is our approach to regrow, and I understand that that's out of our hands for a moment, but we should probably still have some conversations around it to make sure that we're prepared should it end up in front of us again.

Um speaking to regrow, um, it did die in committee.

Um as of right now, there's not a consensus to discuss the program.

Um, I want to maybe encourage you all to have conversations with your aldermen if you have ideas of ways that this program could really thrive.

I think um council really wants to make sure that the funding is spent in the best possible way and helping um the population at the that the way it's supposed to.

Um so they I think they're looking to hear from folks to understand what it is that the community wants to see, what are some gaps or things like that?

Um so I would encourage that.

If you'd like, I can add that to the agenda, but um as of right now, as far as like the application rubric, all of that um has been paused and moving forward because we don't know what direction council is gonna want to take the program.

So with that in mind, maybe it makes sense to not have it, but to address it if it comes forward to us, we need to schedule an entire meeting to focus on it, probably absolutely.

Yeah, because we were moving forward in that direction.

We had some really great ideas for the rubric and stuff that I was excited to bring you all.

Um so when that does happen, make sure that we'll get you guys up to speed on that so we can move forward with um the new rubric and things of that nature.

So far, I have um crude, bravo, and paquela.

Did I say that right?

Pakala.

Um, for housing.

Eric, you said you'd like to be um you can do the the disability or accessibility and inclusion.

Disability and inclusion, okay.

Um does anybody else have any areas that they would like to be part of uh youth engagement?

Who said that?

I did.

Okay.

I would also be interested in the communications and public messaging.

Okay.

Uh let me find that in public.

Okay.

I'd like to be included here on the uh equity and inclusion.

I'm sorry, could you say that again?

I couldn't hear you.

Equity and inclusion.

Okay.

Bravo.

Michaela, additionally, you can add me to the um talking point related to domestic violence.

Domestic violence, okay.

Can you tell me what?

Oh, there it is.

Okay.

Esther Martin.

Oh, are you saying okay, equity?

All right.

Okay.

Okay.

And housing is always been to draw my beat every day, so you want to stick me in there.

Sure.

Michaela, I'll be added also to equity and inclusion.

Okay.

I'm not going to be available for this one.

So uh going forward, I would like to be involved with policy and advocacy focused areas.

Okay.

Can I just have one request and she won't be there?

Is there could you give us some of your notes?

Could you just share some stuff with us?

Sure, prior, and then that way we can we're all included.

I think that'll be good.

Okay.

Yeah.

Okay.

Great.

Okay, absolutely.

It it does seem that community engagement and communications and public messaging kind of overlap in a few areas.

Yeah.

Community engagement and I mean we can combine those two.

So these were just kind of areas um as I was researching and things like that that they do.

Um so we can you're right, that they can kind of I think the communication and public messaging is something like more of what we want our social media to to be like and engagement could be more of like any type of events or that type of thing that we were looking to do or participate in.

There's the overlap.

There is, yeah, absolutely.

So I'd be up for both.

Maybe put those together.

Michaela, to add to that overlap.

I I would almost take the where'd it go?

Accessibility and disability inclusion and just put it under the equity lens.

It's it's the same.

Okay.

I would just add that under equity.

Okay.

So are we adding four and five together?

Is that what we're doing?

Yeah, or one and five.

The community engagement and outreach with communications and public messaging.

And then adding you said item E under six to um equity.

Equity and inclusion number two.

And I almost wonder if we would add in that same line.

I wonder if we would add D, the hate incidence and bias response under equity as well.

Um let's see.

So item E, we're gonna add to number three, and then what else?

Item D to number three.

Yes.

So what I can do is those priority issue areas, I can maybe make those our groups and then add those to each group and then put the other items up under there.

Does that make sense?

Okay.

Yes.

Okay.

Policy and advocacy.

Okay.

Oh, I got you.

Can you add me the community engagement average, please?

Absolutely.

Perfect.

So I'll make those tweaks.

I'll send out a final agenda before our meeting.

Um, and if you guys think of anything in the meantime, please let me know.

I'm happy to add anything that you guys would like to have as part of this.

But like I said, the majority of our time is gonna be spent in those small groups and really building out and beefing up our action plan for the next two years.

And then um we'll come back together, then we're gonna review all of those small group discussions, make sure that the whole commission is on board with what the small groups had discussed, and then kind of finalize those um those items and add them to formally add them to our action plan, and that would conclude our meeting.

I will bring um donuts and coffee and bagels.

I'm not a donut person, so I'm gonna bring bagels too.

So is there anything else that you guys can think of that you might need for the session?

No.

Thank you for organizing.

Yeah, absolutely.

Thank you very much.

Okay.

So uh with that, we have reached the commissioner's reports part of our agenda.

Um, so start on this side of the room.

Are there any commissioners' reports?

I have something new.

I I like what uh she said about uh commissioner uh coming alongside an alderman.

I think that would be cool if one of us would uh walk alongside them, you know, here hear the region that they're in charge of.

Um, and then it'll get us out there more that people would know that we they can come and talk to us as well, you know.

So I I really like that idea.

That's a great idea.

I just need to have on the record I had uh actual uh grantee reach out to me in regards to a grant um about Brook Road, and I talked to Michaela and it was she had resolved, they already resolved it and it's at council, but I just wanted to be able to put on the record that I did follow through with this.

Thanks.

I had a uh meeting today with um both Altam and Tamir Bail as well as uh Alder Woman uh Karen Hoffman, um, particularly with uh the regrow.

Um so this past Monday it it basically died in the water.

And so my my recommendation is that uh to city council is that it comes back up for reconsideration.

Secondly, I I reviewed uh on the uh city of Rockford's uh website in regards to the description of the regrow, and it's very broad.

And I think that once it comes up for reconsideration that we need to really look at it.

Um my recommendation is that it it drops from uh city council back down to the CRC, um that we uh have the opportunity to look at it and and create wording um that will that will help what we need to do and then push it back up to to there.

And the reason why I I say that is because with uh um President Trump uh blocking $10 billion worth of uh uh funding that is used for many of our nonprofits dealing with um uh child care after school programming and things like like that.

Um we need to really kind of look at how the city can handle and at least give some level of a stimulus and use the uh the funding from the regrow to to kind of help stimulate um what they're the work that they're already doing.

And so that's my recommendation.

The only other thing that I will I guess a question, um so at the end of our meeting last month, there was some desire to get um some memos from city departments.

Do we have an idea when that we might receive that information?

I did talk to um our public works director and asked for the memo and gave some notes, but I will follow up.

I have not received that memo as of yet.

Thank you.

Yep.

Anything else from commissioners before we adjourn for the evening?

I will take a motion to adjourn that.

So move.

Do we have a second?

Second.

All in favor.

See you all at the strategic planning meeting.

We didn't even acknowledge not too often that we had