We are live.

All right.

I am Drew France and I will call this meeting to order.

This is the May 26th regular meeting of the Human Rights Commission of the City of Tulsa, and we do have a quorum.

What we don't have today is a presentation from Compassionate Tulsa.

So I'll move on to the agenda item of considering the prior meeting minutes for approval.

You were provided a copy of the April 26th regular meeting minutes for advanced review.

And I am certainly open to discussion or corrections.

So moved.

So motion to approve.

Do I have a second?

All those in favor say aye.

Aye.

Any opposed, say nay.

The minutes are approved as presented.

I need to abstain since I wasn't there.

Noted the abstention.

For those that were absent.

As always, I will take the liberty to go in a different order from the meeting agenda.

Uh typically I'm going to do that not to be difficult, but to ensure that we spend time where we need to on the issues that are likely to have the most discussion.

But I will continue with the chair and vice chair reports going a little bit out of order.

It's been a very busy month since we last met.

Several of us uh toured the center for individuals with physical challenges on May 12th.

Uh, three human rights commissioners were there, two city staff, including Lexi, were there.

I want to thank Commissioner Meadows, who I don't think is here, but he's the one that connected us to staff to arrange that tour.

I myself have not been there in a long time, so long that when I was there, what was the new building and the new gym are now the very not the new building and not the new gym.

And not only double those, but they're in the process of major new construction and further expansions are underway.

If you haven't been, it's really uh an incredible facility.

Um their mission is to provide opportunities for youth and adults with physical challenges to enhance the quality of their lives.

And in case you don't know, they've also absorbed uh another nonprofit, so they've added deaf and hard of hearing services.

So that means interpreters to provide American sign language for businesses, schools, courts, hospitals.

Uh they've added deaf services, which are typically one-on-one services to meet individualized needs.

They've also added community resources which provide presentations on how best to serve the deaf community.

Uh Commissioner Meadows was quoted uh about two weeks ago in an article in the paper where he called the center Tulsa's best kept secret.

I would have to agree.

It is an amazing facility.

It has excellent gymnasiums and recreational areas for adaptive sports.

They do basketball and soccer and everything in between, and these beautiful gymnasiums.

They have spaces for uh social and wellness activities, for yoga, for therapy, for group connections, poetry, photography, you name it, it's going on in there.

Uh they have some horticultural spaces, both indoor and outdoor.

Uh, every plant I've ever killed is on display in driving in their area.

So, some really great partnerships in terms of folks that understand gardening and plants.

They do arts and crafts and stain, like stained glass, ceramics, it's all there.

So I don't know how many square feet it is, but it's a heck of a facility there at 11th and Utica.

Uh, and it really I think also the tour underscored the range of clients that they they help.

Uh there are folks that maybe have had a stroke, uh amputees, folks that have had spinal cord injuries, the visually impaired, those with brain injuries, those that have MS or MD or Parkinson's.

It's just a remarkable asset for Tulsa, and it's aligned with the goals of the human rights commission.

So appreciate uh Commissioner Meadows for uh him uh extending that invitation for us to visit.

I do encourage you to get there if you haven't, and I'll just pause to let others that were there share any impressions that you had.

I know Councillor Roberts, you were there.

Lexi, you were there.

My favorite is the rock climbing wall.

I just love those two spaces and two things that as an able-bodied person who generally spends you know time in spaces that aren't necessarily set up to support those with physical challenges.

Um, you would never think about somebody who utilizes a wheelchair being able to rock climb, and like how amazing is that that you can do anything and everything there, and it's it's just such a positive fun space.

Yeah, great, great example.

Anyone else?

And that rock climbing section is just right on the corner.

Yeah.

Look at the buildings.

So we're curves, so long with that, totally different now as that kind of building.

Yeah, seeing from the inside is really cool.

I have to agree with you.

There's nothing like making you feel old, and when you're walking through the old wing, you were there for the capital campaign.

That was challenging.

But I will say, the adaptive sports, the gymnasium that they have in there is extraordinary.

They're their uh connections to the VA and getting veterans out there and their partnerships there, which I've asked about and had gotten a lot of good information there.

And we got to see a Mecca there working out, which is awesome.

Um, also gave me the tour the first time.

Yeah, I mean too.

All in all, it was a great experience.

So I highly recommend anybody who has not been there to please set up a tour and go down there.

It's an extraordinary resource in the city is also.

And I'm apologize, I wasn't able to make it this time.

Were there any actions or any things that came out of that tour that where we can support or I don't know what the discussion was during this particular report?

It was fairly formal, but I think Josh just mentioned one thing about understanding repackaging and making sure constituents like veterans understand how appropriate it is for them to patronize the place.

How uh we came away with this flyer of all the activities and the membership fees, and it really is just like any any gym or public center.

Um they just offer a lot to through people throughout the committee community.

I think of my mom and who's hard of hearing and uh less and less mobile and just as all the the different social aspects of it.

So I think the idea was don't don't make up your mind about what the center is without sort of visiting and understanding uh the the array of services providing.

Uh if others thought of things that maybe came from that.

Yeah, I think the biggest thing was just awareness building for them, and you know, also um.

Chairman France mentioned that when they when they absorbed um TSHA a couple years ago, they added that um arm of providing services to the deaf and hard of hearing community, and so they you know have ASL trans interpreters that go out to the courts and to medical appointments and things like that, and that sparked a thought for our financial empowerment program manager.

Like, oh, like we need that at the financial empowerment center.

So if you're in other spaces where you know that type of interpretation service could be utilized, um, which feasibly is everywhere that the public accesses definitely reach out to them to learn more about what the possibilities are, and I think they're always looking to expand their capacity of you know their uh lineup of interpreters.

So, like most nonprofits, I'm sure they're always willing to talk to potential volunteers about volunteer opportunities and thinking about maybe skills and goals you have and and interests and how they may or may not uh overlap with what they're trying to provide there at the center.

I think the other example is, and I'll say more about this in a moment, is I know we're all busy and we can't coordinate 20 different schedules and we can't all make all events, and that's okay.

But I would like to be more intentional about this.

Isn't the last time I think we go out and see our community and make sure that we're getting those first-hand opportunities to understand uh what our community looks like outside this building.

That's nice.

Do we have a wish list or like some sort of list of places we're doing?

Like your starting one.

You're starting one.

I think we I think we need that because oftentimes it may take three months or more to get that to happen.

So absolutely uh would love to I heard a few in our interviews and would love to hear about um opportunities to change the venue, if you will, uh, informally if not formally.

Uh second, I'll just quickly give you an update on our quarterly Title V commission, the commission chairs and vice chairs have an opportunity to be quarterly.

Again, not everyone can make it, but all the Title V commissioners were represented by at least one, and someone from the mayor's staff was there.

Uh, this month we heard from city legal staff regarding fund management and commissions.

Uh the short version is that commissions are functionally extensions of the city itself.

We're not independent separate entities, and that we uh shouldn't be out there conducting business that is uh a part or inconsistent from city policies and procedures.

Uh, we we discussed examples of you know the commission doesn't sign uh contracts uh on its own that we have to operate in accordance with city policies, so a lot of discussion about um how we can um take that understanding of how the city does business and what those steps and policies and procedures are.

It's a lot of learning, and I think a lot more conversation follows as uh each commission considers um how they they want to proceed in partnership with the city and making sure that we're doing everything that's in line with with the uh commission or the city's uh policies and procedures.

Uh Lexi, anything to add you were there?

I mean that's perfect.

I think more to come as the city just clarifies and reasserts uh appropriate policies and procedures in this space.

Uh off script here, a couple events that I attended with some of you on May 1st, Anna and I and I at Amanda's direction attended the Hispanic culture night at Union Public Schools.

Uh it was uh excellent to meet so many young people uh that attend union schools and their families.

A lot of great Tulsons were out, a lot of celebration of different cultures.

That was that was wonderful and appreciate Anna being there, uh displaying her uh multilingual capabilities.

Uh I was not in that position.

But you had it.

Well, you're being kind, but I made friends nonetheless, and even connected a few dots of people I know who I may not speak the language uh the same way, but we we knew the same people.

So it was really wonderful night.

Thank you for doing everything you do at Union Public Schools.

I told the superintendent uh how impressed I was with your event.

No, thank you, thank you for being there.

That was important to us.

I I think what's stressing the importance for the community to know what the commission's doing.

So the more we can be present and kind of explain what we do, that's thank you so much.

Of course.

Uh I hope there's more of that to come.

And I did highlight I think uh an area of development for us, which I'll mention in a moment.

But second, and what was sort of a repeat in different ways was several of us were at a neighborhood and financial fair and we'll soon be old Rudisol Library on May 7th.

Uh Larissa was there, Lexi was there, I know others were there, other commissions were there.

Um again, many great people.

A lot of those folks that live in district one, like myself, uh live near the library.

Gosh, there must have been a couple hundred people that came to there.

It was packed.

It was our count.

Yeah, yeah.

We expected a hundred max.

So it more than doubled our expectations.

First of all, write this down, get this in a minutes.

We need candy at our booth.

What's the budget?

We need something to grab.

We need more often.

Okay.

Donation.

Is there a Venmo?

Yeah, what we do.

I will always advocate for fun, maybe semi-healthy snacks.

There you go.

Yeah.

You gotta get the kids, you gotta pull them in.

At least if it feels healthy, like fruit snacks.

They're essentially still candy.

But like at least if we feels city of Tulsa's swag.

We're working on it.

We do need swag.

We swag.

That was clearing.

Budget.

And then I know those two events and many others sort of brought to light something I think we know, and Lexi is as usual working to address this.

Um there's a kind of a volume of materials that vary across consistency from QR codes all the way to something that looks like it was maybe made 10 years ago.

And we need to sort of streamline and make concise and effective a one-pager about what the HRC does and represents.

So I know uh by June 8th, Lexi is seeking bullet points for our mock-up for a one-pager so that we can sort of roll into these future events in a little more coordinated way.

But we have uh stuff that is updated and feels like it resonates with uh the current internal type of learning style.

I think less is more.

Um, and I just think there's a lot of room for improvement.

So, Lexi, anything you want to add to thinking about sort of rebranding what the commissions do?

Yeah, no, I I think that's well said.

Um yeah, there's a wide range of, you know, physical materials across the Title V commissions.

Some have many things, some have one thing or no things, and so I'm just trying to kind of support all of the commissions and whenever they have those great opportunities to be with community, um, to you know that they have materials that are unique to their own commission to really showcase the amazing work that they're doing.

So HRC has a one-pager.

I don't know how old it is.

It was something that I inherited a year and a half ago, and it's not very fun and exciting to look at.

So, um, you know, opportunity.

Yeah, yeah.

Um to kind of refresh that and just make something that's a little bit more attention grabbing and accessible and less just black and white words on a page.

If you need another second, a second set of eyes, I'm happy to help you with that.

Thank you.

Yeah.

I was gonna say, I was gonna bring this up when we talk about um the proposal, you know, for the council, but also from that experience of um the Latinx cultural night.

Um I think there's like there's definitely improvements to be made in simplifying you know the language.

I also wonder like how we can like it's explaining something to somebody in another language isn't just about like having the right word, but also making it conceptually relevant based on like somebody's context, right?

So what I mean, I don't know the answer to this, um, but like what is the equivalent of a commission in, you know, another city in another country.

Yeah, um you know there's obviously like similarities and differences across different countries I don't know like in you know the country that I'm from that there is a correlation so how do we make that relevant um to say like what are the actions that were that you know that this commission takes or like things that that kind of speak to to things that feel relevant and meaningful to different communities that may not have any context at all.

And I also think you know even Americans don't have a lot of context for what a commission is anyway.

So maybe it helps everybody I'm explaining that.

Yeah.

I mean I was fighting for my life doing it in Spanish and and it's not because I didn't know the word I mean part of it like what is the word you know but most of it is really conceptually like how do you explain it yeah it takes like a whole civics lesson to okay and this is what we do do you want to be a part of it and they're already gone eating the candy at another table.

Well we might we might want to do some focus groups or some maybe testing in terms of different messages that might resonate.

So I mean we can come up with three or four different options and see you know if that that sticks or no that's not quite it because yeah there is a big issue with not just a one for one translation but that intent yeah it matters.

Yeah yeah.

I think that would be great it's it's needed it's something we can control.

I really think it's not it it's consolidating it's really sharpening the point on if you had an elevator pitch what would that elevator pitch be aligning us across languages and commissioners to carry the water on expressing why we convene and I think through that sharpening we might get some clarity that we we probably need regardless.

Moving on we'll come back to this later but I want you to know that several of us so three of us I guess met with the mayor's office regarding the authorities boards and commissions on April 28.

We'll discuss that a little bit more later but it was nice to hear from the mayor's team about their role in that space and and what they're hoping to get out of our our goal and and moving the needle on representation.

Also several announcements I'm gonna save for the end but there's a lot of things coming up in the next 60 days most of which um well like most of which you're you're invited to and we're gonna need people to show up and help uh represent the human rights commission and other opportunities so more to come at the end.

And then lastly in terms of my updates and I'll certainly let you have a few minutes here if you need it well you and I met with uh up to I think nine commissioners for one-on-one interviews I'm counting Josh that conversation we had after our tour of the center and nine different commissioners met with us for for fairly quick interviews.

That invitation is open for those of you I know we're all busy so don't feel like you missed a window at any time if you want to have a discussion about how things can be improved with the HRC that invitation stands.

Literally each of you had good insights and ideas we're not going to cover all of them today.

I do just want to talk about some themes and and what has become a trend in my life lately to a fault.

I have like nine pages of poorly written notes hastily written from our conversation so I just suck them into AI to sort of see what AI saw about the themes.

This is definitely not exhaustive we're gonna keep coming back to it but I think there was some kind of general consensus on a few things.

So I think we generally agree on the what like the the why we're here the the desire for equity desire for access and representation but I think we're all seeking clearer structure on accountability and the visibility of action among us so themes that were pretty clear are the sort of gap between discussion and execution there's a lot of talk but there's often limited tangible progress that maybe isn't always evident there's a real desire for visible results.

I think we all know that but how can we continue to deliver that I think there's some challenges around role clarity like what are the expectations for a committee versus an individual commissioners what how should we show up these meetings in terms of being the most effective and responsive to what our rules are supposed to be I think the meetings often come across as maybe a rehash of the recent past.

Totally true we we sometimes start from 30 days ago, and it's difficult to always understand what decisions need to be made or the progress we're making.

So I'm even suggested a preference for some pre-work or more activity in between the meetings so that we can show up at our meeting and be more focused on decisions or problem solving.

Community representation.

I think there's a desire to make sure that parts of town are better represented, such as East Tulsa and among the youth in our community.

I think we that's general agreement and alignment with our existing goals.

I think no one disputes that our goal to improve access to the complaints process and the goal to improve representation across ABCs are important work that we should continue.

And then lastly, there is some just a coordination improvements.

We could consider some sort of shared calendar, some sort of shared dashboard that really helps inform us more evenly about the opportunities for us to represent outside of the meetings or to participate.

And then I'm gonna pause there.

I have two ideas that I just want to lift up.

They're certainly not exhaustive, but does that seem consistent?

I mean, are those pretty familiar themes among others?

I've seen some head nodding.

So, you know, only so much as possible today, but I think that's sort of the work ahead is how we begin to move the needle on those particular issues.

On that note, two things that aren't gonna solve all our ills, but I want to lift them up, two things that were pretty clear.

One was um, and and I'll follow up more specifically, but at least one of you expressed this notion about succession or lack thereof.

And if you think kind of look around the room and you look at everybody, we all sort of have this uh kind of uh maybe unofficial sort of role that we fill.

I think everyone's kind of known for bringing an experience or an expertise to this commission, and maybe you have sort of a duty.

And the question is, like, if I didn't, if I wasn't here, who would do what I do?

And for some of you, um, I think it was expressed that if they're ever going to sort of move above and beyond the commission, they want to make sure that someone's fulfilling that duty.

And I'll be more specific, maybe individually as we kind of talk through that, but I do think there's a real concern that if if some of us weren't here, that the duties we have would would go away pretty quickly, and we need to make sure that we're building a bridge and then we're building succession to the past.

So again, I'll follow up more specifically, but there's at least one opportunity for someone, someone that's not involved with with a duty that we have, and I do think it's a great opportunity for someone to step up and say, hey, that's something I would like to carry on that when my predecessor rolls off the board or rolls off the commission uh that work continues.

Uh the second, and we discussed it a little bit earlier, is the idea of considering venue changes.

I don't know if we can have a meeting at different venues, but we can certainly gather occasionally at other venues like we did at the center, uh, so that we can certainly learn uh about the other offerings in this community, making sure that we're seeing other parts of town.

Uh, and that's true of speakers and topics for learning.

So, to your point, I think we need sort of a hit list of potential educational and learning opportunities.

I think sky's the limit on where we might visit and who we might hear from and what we might discuss.

Uh, and I think everyone has a real thirst to, if nothing else, beyond this commission to learn about our community, the good work that's going on, and then the areas for improvement.

So I can commit to advancing those two specific things, and I will work with you on this uh the other themes that I think emerged about where we can grow.

I think that's a great start.

Comments or thoughts on that?

I know that's not shocking news, that's really a mirror reflection of what you told me, but uh it's true, and and I think we need to I commit to you to helping unpack that in the months ahead.

Well, thank you for listening to all of us and kind of synthesizing that and realize that there are at least a couple things that we can start working towards.

I think that's great.

Yeah, I think uh in years past, I think Andrea was with me.

We did the VFW and went down there and we were doing kind of not just site tours, but hosting our meetings and getting out of the city and provide providing breakfast and all that with our kitchen down there.

It's awesome.

It made for a nice morning for all to kind of hang out and get out of this space and get into a different space.

And uh I mean, I was hosting it, of course.

I loved it, but I thought it was a good meeting all in all.

So, are there rules around where official like on the record meetings can happen?

Um, no.

The only thing that I will note is outside of this room or the council committee room or the council chambers, we don't have the option for TGov broadcasting.

So, you know, for that, like accessibility and and record keeping mechanism.

Um I personally wouldn't like recommend that you all host like regular meetings outside of the building, and that doesn't mean that you couldn't do uh like a step back or a mini retreat of some sort at the center at the BFW, or if you say, you know, we're gonna have a like a community listening session or a focus group that those could be held outside of these walls or would even be better served by by holding those outside of this building.

What are the technology technology constraints around that?

Or do we have to be within those three spaces to actually?

Yeah, so those are the only three rooms that are set up with the TGov cameras, um, to be able to do the live broadcast.

Got it.

Yeah, that's a valid um, it's a valid constraint, and I do think we have uh an obligation to conduct these meetings publicly.

Yeah, but I think we can do both.

I think we can convene.

I think what what you're describing helps you that desire to see the action and to see the work on the ground and to meet the community.

I think it might scratch that itch, which is very genuine.

Well, at the same time, um, we can certainly bring people here uh to help us learn and continue to conduct the business uh in a more public setting.

But if nothing else, let's definitely get this.

Uh I I again I I have them from the interviews, but I would love to get this this list going of potential places to visit, potential topics to learn about, and potential people to hear from.

And I guess you also gave several examples of people to hear from.

But I think those invitations are gonna have to be 90 days out.

Yeah, and we need to start that process.

Uh, and certainly uh my my predecessors I think started that work really well under your watch.

We did a lot more of that intentionally, and I think most of us enjoyed that.

So more to come.

Uh we have a half hour left.

I want to flip the script as I like to and go a little bit out of order on the HRC goals.

Uh Commissioner Pivotar, can I come your way on the uh goal number two on improving representation across the city's authorities, boards and missions?

I will support you in this, but can I let you tee off kind of where we're at?

Sounds great.

Yeah.

Um Drew mentioned that we got to meet with the mayor's team, which was kind of the most uh salient development since I was not able to be here last time.

Maybe we met with Deputy Reyes and Dana Walton, Chief of Staff and Brenton Todd, Deputy.

Okay, thank you.

Um, and uh the conversation was really helpful.

I brought some additional data to the table that I want to share with you all that just is helpful in understanding the composition um in terms of appointments.

So looking at the tenure, which is a part of the data that we've requested in a past meeting, 24% of all ABC seats have turned over to a new member and mayor Nichols tenure.

So that's good that we have like a fifth of our seats with new people in them.

And over the last five years, sixty-two percent of those seats have new people in them.

So we're actually not seeing, I mean, there's like 10 people under 10 who've been on the commission for more than 20 years, and they're like pretty niche seats and probably like a community elder.

Um so we're not seeing an issue of the same person necessarily staying in a seat, and it was super helpful to talk to Dana and Brentham.

Brentum helps with appointees to title five commissions, Dana helps with all other ABCs, and they're working really hard to try and uh cultivate, recruit, find people to fill seats that have relevant experience.

One other thing that was helpful is of the current open seats, when I say current, I mean like a month ago.

There were 27 open seats and only 12 of them had an industry restriction on like the person needs to have this job or this perspective.

27 seats open and how many had restricted 12.

12, okay.

Yeah, and that's of like 290-ish seats broadly.

Um, and only two of those 27 had a district restriction, and then having to be a certain city council office.

One challenge the mayor's office put forth is that the district composition of ABCs kind of reflects vote return out and just general civic engagement.

So finding the people can be tricky.

And so you'll see printed in front of you a proposal we put together with help from a lot of you all in my absence last time to kind of give a more concrete idea of how the HRC could partner to help the mayor's office and city council find more diverse representation for ABC seats before we even dive into like what the recommendations are.

The function of this document, in my opinion, is not to be the silver bullet that solves the problem.

It's one to keep the conversation going.

This budget season happened, we kind of got uh we sent our memo, budgets happened, a lot's going on.

We want to just make sure it stays top of mind, and then two, I think this document really demonstrates the cross-functional potential for navigating this issue.

I think that the city council and the mayor's team kind of have a shared effort on how we get people into these seats because the mayor's office puts up the appointee and then city council approves it.

I think we can show the different roles everybody can play in making sure that these seats reflect our community.

So just to give you a quick overview, some of these are shared recommendations for both us and city councils, but they reflect a lot of your ideas.

So starting with city council, partnering with both HRC and Title V commission liaisons at town halls to facilitate signups for commissioners to attend and remote ABCs from a citizen's perspective, like Commissioner Barris and Commissioner France were able to do.

Identify organizations and leaders through which recruitment efforts can be deployed.

That is a shared responsibility between city council and HRC.

Partner with HRC and the city to create educational materials that demystify the ABC process from application to appointment to confirmation and so forth and share on public channels.

That one is a shared duty I'm proposing.

And I think we all can acknowledge, even for us to say what does the commissioner do, looks really different across all of the different seats.

And so there's some adaptive work that's gonna have to happen again from all the functions from each ABC from the city to really align on like what is our goal for each of these groups and what are we communicating about time commitment and you know all the pieces of that.

So I want to caveat that with like I don't think we're gonna have a lookbook anytime soon, but I think we can start the strategic clarity process knowing that that's where we want to go.

Um of these last ones are more about city recommendations we can make.

The first being to create that updated lookbook with easy access to descriptions, membership requirements, meeting times, obligations, and one suggestion was even to offer skill sets to support effective engagement.

We all know it's easy to just come show up and leave and maybe not engage in between.

So thinking about the types of orientations and mindsets that help someone make this role meaningful, and then finally making a recommendation to the city to make website resources on ABCs easier to navigate.

For example, right now, the meeting agenda is on one page, then you get to go to TGup to watch the video, then you gotta go to a different page to find the past agendas, and recommending to simplify that somebody to help people understand how these things work.

So those are the general recommendations.

Um motion to discuss, or are we voting on it?

Yes, yes, okay.

If you feel ready to vote on it, yes.

Okay, I would love to hear feedback on anything we should add, adjust.

So, quick question on just process for the just the entire, you know, appointment and whatnot, because the only one that I'm familiar with is the one that I experienced.

Um in other boards, and I know boards and commissions are different.

Um, you know, usually the meetings are private, um, just board only.

Um, but then you can invite guests in, and the intention of that is kind of as a recruitment tool where a particular person has a set of skills, you invite them to either observe or present.

Um, and so it's kind of their way of starting that engagement process.

Um, have we done that with any of our commissions?

Have we done that with uh even our commission where we've invited people and then hopefully that's kind of like oh, we had a really good conversation.

How do we continue to get them to engage and then maybe we put them on that list?

I don't know if that's part of our process or if it should be considered.

One caveat all night, and then I want Lexi to contribute to.

Lexi's got many shout-outs for being an outstanding liaison in the ABC world, and I do think the Title Five Commissions operate a little differently than the other ABCs.

Thank you for saying that.

I don't know, I'll speak between the Asian Affairs Commission and HRC.

We haven't formally done that, but I know the Asian Affairs Commission being so new, we tend to have a fuller gallery of people who are coming to check it out.

I also know the wait lists for different Title five commissions look really different in terms of interest, so I do think it is a good practice that even though people can come, an invitation goes a long way to say, come learn, and then we might get more feedback about who can attend and who can't based on when the meetings are held.

And I agree with that because it seems like it's something that's not, you know, people this is an open forum, so anybody can come, but that invite is so much different and intentional.

You know, just to have even if they're not gonna, you know, join a commission or what, but it kind of it goes back to what you were saying earlier that they see what we do.

And then they're able to like after the meeting engage and ask questions and things like that.

Yeah.

And it's intimidating and hard to get in here.

Yes, yeah.

Like, you gotta get your perking past, you gotta go through security, you gotta wait for the elevator, doors locked, and like a two years later I'm used to it.

But we have a bigger, we have a bigger audience when we have when we've invited people, whether it's for an award or a presentation.

Um, but just maybe that's something to consider is how do we invite people.

And maybe that's part of our tasks is identifying people that we have had really good conversations with in either our own commissions or out at some of these events, and then we say, you know what, we should invite this person, and then we just have that personal invite to hopefully get that started.

Then address that maybe because I know like I'm like, I was panicking today.

Like, did I forget my badge again?

I better run home and get my badge and all those things, right?

Just to get in the door.

So I totally understand that.

So if we like designated a person to be out there and waiting for them before they even get in and say, hey, you know, such and such with the human rights committee, glad you're here, and come on up and then like have them come up kind of like that.

A little bit less intimidating.

I will say that we've been very fortunate with compassionate Tulsa being a presenter at the beginning, and I do enjoy coming to this meeting earlier to kind of like desensitize my workload, that I've used that opportunity for like when their guests are coming in.

Because if you actually look at who they bring in as the award winner, that's the HRC in the audience, you know.

I mean, like there's a lot of people that are coming for friends or they're being represented in themselves.

So I've kind of used that.

So I do love the idea of like how do you invite them in and even just them reviewing the compassionate Tulsa, that's great.

So I don't know if there's a way that not to maybe recreate the will but use the wheels that are already existing, if we can know ahead of time who's going to get that opportunity, or maybe where they're representing, and maybe that's something that oh I'm friends with them, or I think that's a great connect, and maybe them staying, or we invite them to stay for the meeting and kind of see what we're about.

I think that might be an opportunity as well to build off of yours of how do you have the point person to say welcome and feel more comfortable.

I love that, Dr.

Rogers.

You can have a designated day that we all invite somebody.

I love that.

I can definitely communicate who's on the roster, who's gonna be receiving this.

I love that.

We have to do that.

And it kind of transitioned like when we first started those, there was always kind of a QA afterwards and what can we provide to help you and enable you on your path uh as the HRC, and that's kind of like just dwindled to thanks to the award.

Yeah, I mean, there was the time when it was taking a little bit too much time.

I know that as well.

Yeah, I need to get out of here quickly, I think.

We do have this bullet, the first one under Human Rights Commission that says support title five commissions to take demographic data back to their commissions for community-specific discussions around gaps in recruitment.

What we're talking about with inviting people through Compassionate Tulsa is very specific to us, right?

Not every commission has like a federation.

So I wonder, I don't know if it needs to be added to the document, but I also know we have a title five retreat coming up, and that could be uh Lexi was just mentioning there's a commissioner, uh Commissioner Assembl on the Asian Affairs Commission who is chief inviter.

Like he always has 10 friends in the audience that we all have.

And I think there's some like best practices and right spots in Asian Commission we can learn from it.

Um I guess my question to you all, I think it's a really good idea.

Do you think it needs to go in here?

And if so, where are we comfortable riffing on it independently?

Could you kind of restate where you're the where you're thinking that the bullet?

Yeah, I think that this technically lives in community-specific discussions around gaps in the climate.

And if we think it would be helpful for city council to hear an example of how we're going to tackle recruitment gaps in a specific way, then we can add it.

If we think it's fine, it says we can leave it.

I love the idea of adding because it shows that we're in buy-in and we're actually going to be moving forward with stuff, especially if we're gonna ask for stuff in return for them.

So I like the ad, and I think it holds us a little bit more accountable that we all agreed on it.

So where are we for that?

Do you have the document open this?

I do actually.

How did you know?

It's like I'm laptop today.

Okay, so I wonder if we add um identify commission specific strategies to engage potential applicants in our meetings and other words.

Yeah, like during meeting times or something like that.

I think you could also maybe add committee work as well.

Yeah, yeah.

I think that's how a lot of commissions do it.

You can get one foot in the door by helping out with something specific and then you're a full member.

It's true.

Absolutely.

That's not what that's never happened.

That's how you got it.

Yeah, as a separate bullet point.

Got it.

Can you read them back?

I can identify commission specific strategies to engage potential applicants during Title V commission and committee meeting times.

Yeah, I'd like to do a motion to vote for approval.

Sorry, more jumble question here.

Um at one point in time we're discussing maybe a data presentation.

Are you is that separate or in parallel with this?

And um kind of next steps.

Do you see agreeing on on something to send to city council as a follow-up?

Sorry, presenting to the council or to commissions.

Uh council.

Council, yes.

I think it's I'm like kind of hoping this reminds them that we offered that and they'll leave it off.

So to that point, we um they're very busy and got a lot going on.

A one email about we were will ready to schedule and we just haven't scheduled is where we're at on that.

And almost mercifully, because I think we need the time to continue so you understand.

Okay.

So you so you see this as sort of an update while we continue to potentially um discuss directly with them in the form of a committee presentation.

I hope.

I think if there were not, I don't want to speak to board commission.

I think if it was just like thank you, I would be like, wait.

You all had so many questions before.

Um so I'm assuming that I think you got maybe emails from board counselors.

Uh three or four, yeah.

Okay.

So I'm kind of betting on their having interest in it just having been a busy season.

So this is your proposal to continue the discussion in the absence of a set future meeting for us to sort of respond to that initial inquiry.

But here's some here's some ideas to react to about what this council could do and what we could do to uh yeah, I like that.

I wonder um what do you think of adding a final line at the end that's just like we're eager to continue engaging the conversation?

I think that could be in a cover email.

Yeah, through a meeting.

I think a specific ask.

Yeah, can you add it under for city council as an action item to like schedule a data presentation?

Certainly yes to both.

I also think in the cover email we could say, by the way, couldn't because again I want to, you know, I I I don't feel unheard or unscheduled, it just at this moment we're not on the calendar, but um I don't think that's a any sort of decision.

I think it's just a lapse.

So I I um I'm fine with the point I think we're all saying the same thing is let's continue to push for a scheduling of a meeting.

Which I don't think necessarily has to be on this, but we can continue to ask.

When you send this, I can pick that conversation back up.

Okay.

So I have a motion, was there a motion?

Second.

Just to clarify, the motion is to send this to them.

Okay.

With the addition read by Lexi.

And with the agreement that we'll continue to ask to schedule a meeting to present ideas and data.

Uh, I have a motion of a second.

All those in favor say aye.

Aye.

Any opposed say nay.

The motion carries.

Thank you for your your leadership on this project.

Any other announcements or uh uh discussion on this one?

I don't think so.

I think just um, thank you, Commissioner.

I really appreciate your work.

Yes, that's awesome.

Um in the past we've had a lot of updates in the class meeting.

We have several updates on goal number one.

I'm sorry, is there a I thought you were trying to slow me down on something I missed, which is typical.

Uh Commissioner Eller Murray was unable to make last year meetings, but she has agreed to sort of pick up the reins and carry this forward.

Um I know a couple meetings ago, Commissioner Roberts shared descriptions of what was going on in other cities in the space to improve access to the human rights complaints process.

But Kendra gave an update uh via email last time that she had met with the CIO of the city.

Uh there was discussion about potentially scheduling a few demos to look at tracking systems.

Alexa, I keep putting on the spot.

Do you know if there's any updates on that?

You are welcome to put me on the spot, and there are no updates at this time.

Okay.

Uh another to do was we were trying to schedule with Black Tech Street, which was an idea of the mayor's.

Might there be a potential overlap there of what Black Tech Street is doing using technology to create accessibility?

Uh we had a false start, a meeting that was um with was scheduled and then we weren't able to pull it off.

So we're still trying to still try to reschedule that meeting, and I give that clumsy hand over to you on any other uh sort of updates you want to.

Yeah, I'd like to turn it over to Commissioner Roberts.

She's been doing a huge heavy lift.

I want to thank you so much for stepping in over the last couple months.

You've been doing an awesome job, so I'll uh hand it over to you for additional updates.

So I my update is very short.

I um took your advice on submitting a form, doing that.

Oh, yeah.

So I did the test form, but then too, I've looked at the questions that are asked on our forms and starting to compare them with the cities that we looked at, um, our other peer cities that we looked at a couple of months ago.

So that's where I'm at now.

Knowing we're not going to meet in July, I want to have something to present in June.

So I'm sorry, thank you so much.

I love it.

Thank you.

Yeah.

I love being a test balloon yourself and having the first hand experience and I think that's it's I give so many venues.

I always ask, have they done this?

As the person that's making me do this, have they done it themselves?

Yeah.

And I think that's really important to have that experience.

So thank you for doing that.

You're welcome.

Other questions or comments on goal number one?

All right.

Um any other committee or advocates or Title V Commission calls for action.

Any other updates that other commissioners want to raise at this time?

I just wanted to let you know that on the awards ceremony that we had.

Ah, that was one of our heroes.

Oh, yeah.

Which we'll close it in.

It's the award that the Hispanic First Commission gives uh recognition to students, Hispanic students, and heroes are those people that are working towards education.

Um they they don't have to be Hispanic descent, but you know, that's recognition that all the work that they're doing towards education in the community.

I'm really that was one of the workers.

Uh like to see that the next newsletter, please.

What did you say?

Put that in the next newsletter, please.

Yeah, hello.

Uh one thing I want to say about the Domas Rivera, if you guys have ever been something that's very, very interesting, um, is that the entire ceremony is done in Spanish.

And so anybody who's there who doesn't speak Spanish gets, you know, a listening device, and you know, you end up experiencing the live interpretation.

I know this commission and you know, in our our Title V retreat last year, the topic of interpretation and translation services, you know, came up so much, and um I just think it's such a beautiful way of of you know uh putting a priority on language accessibility for the community for who this is for, right?

Um and then also it was a lot of people's first time actually having to experience interpretation and and the messiness of it, and you know, it cuts out, and you know, technology's not perfect, and the interpreter did such an amazing job, but it is a very difficult thing.

So, anyway, I just wanted to kind of elevate that.

I think that's a beautiful choice.

Um, and you know, also uh a seed to plant for us to maybe one day kind of come back to that topic and what is language accessibility options, you know, what can that look like in the city of Tulsa?

I love using my Google translate on my phone.

I didn't realize it was there until someone told me.

And when I use that I can hear it in my glasses.

So it works really great.

So I love it.

That's awesome.

I feel like you're cutting edge I use it when I get my nails done too and it's great.

Fast yeah it's really great.

I love that thank you for sharing that I I agree with your comments I think it's really important to understand the experiences of others that you know most of us native English speakers that are live your whole lives never have to experience that maybe unless you travel abroad and it gets real real real quick when you're in that experience and I also think it it helps people like me that's talk too fast it helps you understand your your responsibility in a setting when you're communicating with others to put your put let put others in a position of success and then oftentimes that's easier said than done and we have to communicate in ways that allow they're inclusive and the other piece that you beat me to the punch I know at my shop we're experimenting with reasonably affordable technologies that seem like we're on the precipice of making language barriers eventually a thing of the past that we'll be able to communicate across languages in real time effectively I think we're starting to to get there and that's really really exciting to think about this global community uh in which we live other updates from committees advocates or title five commissions I'll share because June is Pride Month um there are some different celebrations happening to celebrate Pride Month no the Eagles doing like a little street festival um be having a street festival we are continuing to host like the Tulsa Pride plus parade um festival all of that in October again this year from our perspective at Oak Almonds for quality you can never have too much queerness.

Let's just sprinkle it throughout the year.

But if you had not heard stroke too yeah it's nice literally why we moved it to October it is specifically just for accessibility purposes because June was meaning a lot of younger people couldn't come out a lot of older people couldn't come out I've personally had heat stroke for being in pride um so if we just find it a much safer um so it'll continue to be in October and I will be sure and plug that when it is time if you do want to celebrate um with OKQ at least we do have our equality gala on June 27th so if anybody would like uh an invitation or information happy to share that with you I'd love to see some of you there because somehow I also ended up as Gala chairs you know you can't say no.

Yeah I need some people to learn how to say no right thank you for that update please keep us posted as October approaches I will say that the record state the last two October pride parades have been unseasonably warm though however I know what you can hear about that.

I like the jacket and that's not been the situation.

Very warm in October but not as warm as it used to be in June so smart moves that's for a different multiple environmental I also want to share um about uh it used to be called Go Green for Greenwood it has now been called Greenwood Remembrance Day um so from May 30th to June 1st um businesses downtown and across the city will light um their business is green and we are encouraging people to also wear green um in commemoration of the 1921 race massacre um it has become a what is it tradition tradition but uh the mayor has proclaimed proclamation has a that's the word um it is a proclaimed event and so um we just want to make sure to highlight that um and we just ask for your support I love that thank you the specific on days 38th and 33th oh also just uh an update on the Russo regional library um we are closing in June um at the end of May so on May 30th we're having what we are calling uh 50 chapters in the news story.

So we're celebrating 50 years of Rudiso Regional Library, 1976 to 2026 um it's a full day event for all ages.

It's gonna be really fun, lots of activities.

We'll have little bites and door prizes and things of that nature.

And then after May 30th, we will only be open for um essential services.

So no meeting rooms um but still computer use, you can still check out books, etc.

Um, and then we'll be closing down at the end of June.

Um, and then we open in the fall.

I still don't have a date for our opening yet, um, but we're looking at October.

So do you know if they're gonna do any kind of fun summer reading programs like with the big vans or anything?

Yeah, summer reading program is June 1st through July 31st.

And there, we will be hosting things at root still until we close, and so all across the system.

The summer summer reading program is it'll be gone.

It's one of my favorite.

Yeah, it's my fair tickets.

Yes, at that time, I think.

I was doing it.

Fair tickets are half off.

No way.

I said that they were losing money.

But anyway, too many people are still free.

And I've got to move through every year.

Yes.

Oh, the zoo's still free.

Yeah, okay.

Put that in the notes.

This is why we have T Gov.

Thank you, Larissa.

Um, yeah, no, uh, you know, it's for veterans, uh, for uh military families, it gets into uh tense time of year right now.

Uh this week it'll be Memorial Day weekend.

Uh please uh bear in mind that you know we have to listen to taps and marketing every second of every day if we turn on the TV or radio when we're trying to make you know mattress sales and all the things that they do.

They play taps, which triggers a lot of us.

Um, puts us into a not a great head space all the time.

Uh so just be aware of that.

Um some families are gonna be dealing, you know, they deal with that empty seat at the table all year long, but this is where it gets particularly uh sensitive.

Um a lot of a lot of events going on between here and next meeting.

You know, we've got flag day and army birthday and and memorial day, obviously.

Um so just just um you know be aware of our veterans' community and our military families and and kind of what they're going through right now.

So it's just a challenging time this time of year.

Yeah, thank you.

Thank you, Josh.

Anything else on that agenda item?

Just a couple minutes here.

Uh I have several announcements, it'll be brief, but I unless any old business, any new business.

Announcements.

Uh we have a human rights commission meeting on June 15th, and then a break for the summer.

Is that correct, Lexi?

So June 15th, we'd love to have you.

Uh, if you haven't already, please take the city auditor survey called Evaluate the 918.

That's just to share your perspectives on what should be prioritized and next year's audit plan.

And tell a neighbor, tell a friend.

We're trying to spread the love of Tolstons that live all over the city to fill out that survey.

Uh, speaking of, Mayor Nichols has several community conversations uh that are still coming.

I know there's one at in North Tulsa, which I will attend, uh, but others uh are happening, so please attend one of the community conversations that the mayor is hosting.

Uh we are certainly open to human humanitarian of the year nominations and need my title five commission friends to provide us some uh nominees for humanitarian of the year, which we'll celebrate in December.

And I really think at the next meeting we should set up a review group to look at the nominations and pick one or more Tolstans that we want to celebrate at the end of the year.

Two more things on July 21.

We have the TY Pros Pub Club Commission Fair.

Uh we're gonna join TY Pros at their monthly events.

Uh we'll each have our own table as a commission and talk about what we do on the commissions.

We'll recruit community committee members and we'll encourage individuals from the TY Pro community to apply for an authority board or commission.

We're gonna want to have our our new uh branding year there.

Uh and candy.

The kids like candy, the TY Pros, they like the candy.

That's a good idea.

Uh and then lastly, uh Title 5 and Beautypology Commission retreat is on July 24th.

Lexi, forgive me, is that for all of us or just the chairs or the commission retreat on July 24th is all commission members.

So all commission members are invited to that event on July 24th.

It's been great in the past.

We'll have breakout sessions, we'll have the Office of Health and Wellbeing, mayoral priorities and economic developments.

Uh, I'm sure a packed agenda on July 24th, so we look forward to seeing you there.

With that, unless there are any public comments.

Yes, I have something.

Please.

Um, on uh what is it, June the 16th on Tuesday?

Uh American Legion Post 1.

They'll be celebrating their 10th seventh birthday.

And uh Mayor Monroe Nichols will be speaking at that, and it will start at 6 o'clock with uh social hour and complimentary dinner, and then 7, he will speak.

So if you all are interested in that, let me know, I'll send you the information.

And uh this is loosely connected, and I still wanted to connect with the women's commission about this as well.

Um, I'm currently working on a documentary called Unheard Voices Fighting for a Life about women who are currently incarcerated for um killing their abuser.

Oklahoma is number one in the nation for women incarceration and um domestic violence, and our first event will be this Wednesday, May the 27th, which is a fundraiser event for production and things like that.

That will feature live entertainment, it will feature four spoken words, and then a reveal of our trailer, and it will be at the Circle Cinema.

So let me know if you need more information.

Yeah, put it in the just for just your fourth document.

Okay, just counting.

Yeah, um Vice Chair Rogers, could you email me whatever flyer or invite you have for that?

Set me up to also pass it on to the women's commission since it aligns with their focus on women's safety right now.

Thank you.

Any last words?

It's 4 30.

I take a motion to adjourn.

Second, and a second one.

Or an urgent recovery center or somewhere where it's gonna best benefit that individual.