Rock Island Today

City of Moline Human Rights Commission met Jan. 17.

Here are the minutes provided by the commission:

PRESENT: 

Betsy Zmuda-Swanson, Chair 

Jose Castro 

Matt Stoefen 

ABSENT: 

Natividad Keim, Vice Chair 

Tionn Carter 

Diokel Gning 

Adrian Ritchie 

STAFF: 

K. J. Whitley, Community Development Manager 

Bettinna Diaz, Community Development Program Coordinator 

Call to Order 

Human Rights Commission Chair, Betsy Zmuda-Swanson, called the meeting to order at 5:45 p.m., in the Committee-of-the-Whole Room, at Moline City Hall.

Public Comment

There was no public comment at this time.

Questions on the Agenda

There were no questions on the Agenda.

Agenda Items

1. Equity Plan Subcommittee Workshop. Matt Stoefen reported on his agreement to review Royal Neighbors’ DEI plan. In summary, Royal Neighbors’ had the categories of vision, mission and a value statement. The focus was on its workforce, neighbors, community and members as stakeholders. They had 5-6 goals aligning with their values.

Matt also reported on the DEI for the cities of Des Moines and Minneapolis. Des Moines is a GARE (The Government Alliance for Race and Equity) city. He gave handouts on Minneapolis. We all agreed they had been in the hot seat and had acted swiftly and thoroughly. The information he shared from their website was thoughtful, thought provoking and an excellent model.

Jose Castro shared highlights from Moline Senior High School and Unity Point. He found Unity Point had many subcommittees who took up different aspects of the DEI plan.

Betsy Zmuda-Swanson shared information from the City of Elgin, which seemed much less detailed, broader and shorter. K.J. Whitley, Community Development Manager, commented, “It sounds like it doesn’t have teeth.” Betsy agreed. Betsy also shared about the City of Dubuque, Iowa, which had a very involved DEI plan. Dubuque had begun work on DEI in 2005 or 2006. Since Dubuque is a founding member of GARE, their website displayed a dozen toolkits (i.e., the DEI Toolkit: Systemic Racism, the DEI Toolkit: LGBTQ+). Additionally, there are many GARE videos on their website addressing these sensitive areas.

Bettinna Diaz, Community Development Program Coordinator, shared useful historical information on DEI. In 2018, there was an explosion of DEI that happened in higher education and minorities. They began studying and forming policies, plans and implementation. In 2020, George Floyd fueled another explosion; this time in business, companies, and corporations. Many of the policies and likely trainers came from Higher Education. Bettinna also shared that when the focus is on diversity and equity, inclusion follows.

Bettinna educated the HRC subcommittee on the need to measure to establish a baseline and move forward. “Know your current workforce. Who do you have now? Retention, Who leaves and why?” She gave examples of hiring practices with narrow recruitment strategies resulting in fewer applicants with less diversity. Jose Castro illustrated this with Moline High School’s hiring struggles. He remarked that in the past, one job opening brought about 30 applicants, though more recently, it has only brought about 5 applicants. This has helped them to start posting the position where people will know of the need and apply.

The HRC subcommittee began writing the DEI plan with the sentence, “Our intentional vision, mission, and values are the lens from which we create the City of Moline’s DEI policy.”

The HRC subcommittee members present agreed they want all community members to feel welcomed, included, accepted and safe.

Also noteworthy, the HRC subcommittee sees this plan as starting and evolving through measurements and resources. Dubuque has a program called Inclusive Dubuque. It lists 13 entities and network funders. This included the City, corporations, businesses, a healthcare facility, educational facilities and religious organizations.

The HRC subcommittee scheduled the next special subcommittee meeting for Tuesday, February 7, 2023, at 5:45 p.m., at the Moline Public Library.

2. Miscellaneous Business. There was no miscellaneous business.

Public Comment

There was no public comment.

Adjournment

On motion of Jose Castro, seconded by Betsy Zmuda-Swanson, and approved unanimously by the HRC, the HRC meeting adjourned at 7:12 p.m.

http://www.moline.il.us/ArchiveCenter/ViewFile/Item/8746