May 19, 2026 – HRDEI Committee – Video & Transcript

May 19, 2026 - HRDEI Committee

Autoscroll:

Hi, this is our May 19th meeting of the Human Rights, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee. I'm Heather Pino, the vice chair, stepping in for Karen, who is on her way. I'd like to begin with a roll call from the room. Please state your name and if you're present, and then we'll go to Zoom members. Kevin, I see you, so why don't we start with you and go around. Kevin present. Marianne present. Denise present. Jeanneau present. And then online, Yawu. Yawu present. Sophie. Sophie present. Maya. Maya present. Sarah.
I saw Sarah. Sarah present. Okay. Mariam. I'm here. Great. Thank you, everybody. And I just want to confirm, Sophie, are you doing notes? Yeah, I'm doing notes, the meeting minutes for today. Thank you very much. And Jeanneau, would you like to do the land acknowledgement, please? Yes, I'd be happy to. Thank you. Today, as we begin, we would like to acknowledge the following Indigenous peoples on whose traditional homelands we live, work, and gather today. The Massachusetts, the Massachusetts, the Nipmuc, the Wampanoag, and the Pawtucket. We acknowledge their ancestors, particularly of the Massachusetts tribe, who was steward of much of the land now encompassing Sudbury and Weyland, when European settlers arrived to colonize this place in 1638. We seek to understand, acknowledge, and remember the painful, ongoing history of war, genocide, and forced removal of Indigenous peoples by European settlers. And we offer a living celebration of the Indigenous communities who are not just part of the past, but who continue to live and make new history here today. May we all commit to deepening our relationships with Indigenous communities and to being their allies in working for justice.
Thank you. Asma, can you hear us? I just saw your chat message. Yes, I was able to re-log it. I can hear you. It's fine. Great. Just wanted to check. Thank you. Do we, Nick, do you see anybody for public comment? I do not. Let me just verify that, you know, I don't see any hands raised. Great. Thank you. And our first agenda item actually is to introduce you, Nick. Nick is the Weyland IT Director. And would you like to say a little bit about yourself? Certainly. So I was just talking about how I worked for MassAbility for 10 years. I'm very familiar with disabled community and helping the disabled community. And in addition to that, while I was at MassAbility, I was also the chair for the LGBTQ plus A committee. So I have strong ties to this community and family members that are also part of this community. So it is near and dear to my heart as well. Thank you. And welcome. Thanks for joining us. We're very lucky to have you. We are. Did everybody get the Zoom link? Well, we have Nick here. Just a quick question. Did any, because I got it, I had it sent to me from Yahoo because I didn't see it in my email and I checked my junk email. I didn't see it either. I'm sure. I got it. How about others? Because I saw other people log in as Sarah, which meant not, but yes, I think she, I think Karen, Karen sent it in the note that it's somehow, you know, it's addressed to me, but you just need to change your name. Yeah. For some reason, the email we used to get that goes to everybody. So we sign in as ourselves. It hasn't been coming through to everybody. I'm not sure. Yeah, I got a mine. You did get yours. I did a good mine. Well, we'll continue to work on this.
We are going to pass over the appreciation for the moment because Karen would like to be here to join us for that important part of our agenda and move on to discussion and possible a vote to approve the April 21st meeting minutes. Does anybody have any comments or questions about those minutes? Would anybody like to make a motion to approve those minutes? Make a motion to approve the April 21st meeting minutes. Thank you. That was Kevin. And is there a second? I will second, Shano. Thank you. Any further discussion?
Okay. Hearing none, we'll take a roll call vote. Janot, you're front and center right now on my camera. So we'll start with you. Janot? Yes. Marianne? Yes. Denise?
I don't think I can vote on this because I left. Okay. So are you abstaining, Denise? Yeah. Thank you.
Sophie? I wasn't there either, so abstain. Abstain. Okay. Sophie's abstaining. Yahoo? Yes. Sarah? Abstain. Maya? Yes.
Mariam? Yes. Asma? Abstain. And Heather is abstaining. I'm here. You can get Kevin's vote. Oh, Kevin. I'm sorry. Kevin. Yes. Yes. Yes. Thank you very much. And Karen just arrived. And Karen just arrived. Perfect timing. Oh, well. 610. At, yeah. So for the minutes, we have Karen arriving at 610.
Karen, we just did the minutes. And we passed over the appreciation, but would you like us to start ongoing business so you can have a moment? Yes. Give me a moment. Thank you. I can't even see you yet, so you're not on screen. Um, so the first ongoing business that I can share, um, we completed the conversation for change series and the conversations, not confrontation series, as well as there was the forgotten fighters, Chinese soldiers in the, uh, civil war. Um, so we have a number of things that have come up recently. I was, uh, regularly at the conversations, not convert confrontations events and can just report back. It was very well received and the message we got there. And I also think with the confrontations for change was how do we continue to have conversations like this? Um, so there is a desire to continue talking to each other and trying to talk across and with different groups in town.
Karen, would you like to say more or would anybody like to say anything about either of the other programs? Um, the conversations for change series at the library, you, you went to a number of them, Mary Ann. Do you want to speak about that? Yeah. And I think they were very well attended and people were very excited. I think people there also wanted a continuing conversation and, um, I will just reflect that. I think we certainly felt that, you know, in the face of the possibility of another incident to have such a group, we'd be ready to have a, you know, a conversation around anything that might happen that was particularly, um, relevant to the topic, but, um, that we all felt that we wanted, a lot of people there felt that we wanted to continue that conversation. And because the conversation in the room was very active, a lot of participation across a lot of people in the space. So that was very encouraging, uh, to have so much participation and that a lot of us continued to attend because we were getting so much out of it. And I would, I would agree that the conversations, not confrontations, um, folks would, um, probably say, um, would say, um, that they also felt better equipped and more prepared to have hard conversations, um, if need be. And in the moments when we have to talk through things as a community, Karen, are you, uh, would you like me to pass it back over to you? Just about. You're still recovering from your commute there. I'm going to plug in my computer. Um, first Nick, I'm so happy to see you here. Thank you for coming. I assume you've got to introduce yourself. I did. Thank you. The only thing we haven't done, we saved the appreciation because I said, I knew you wanted to be here for that important part. So Asma, um, and Maya, we wanted to say thank you so much for your service to the HR DVIC. We are going to miss both of you so much. Um, and yeah, and you're, you're always welcome back when, when each of you comes back to Whalen, come visit us, come join the committee again.
Thank you, Karen. It's been so amazing being here. I guess. I think the experiences I had, um, with the HR DVIC were awesome and great for high school. And I would totally recommend for other high schoolers as well. Thank you. I hope that you will do that and let us recruit some more high school students. Thank you.
Um, yes. So that's, we, we just really wanted to wrap our arms around you virtually and say thank you. And I just wanted to say thank you to you guys as well. It was a great opportunity for me to learn over the past couple of years, um, and hoping to reconnect when I come back in a year.
We'll, we'll have our arms open. Well, both of you have a great next well for Asma. We hope to see you in a year. Maya, you might be back and forth. You can always come visit. Um, we hope you the best in, uh, both in France for that year and Maya, as you start your new, um, you know, you start college. So exciting about that. So, um, we wish you the best and hope for a visit. Thank you. Um, and back to the agenda, we didn't talk about the forgotten fighters, Chinese soldiers in the civil war, but a couple of us went to that. Yalu, do you, did you want to say anything briefly about, about that program? I think that's a really great, uh, research. Uh, I really don't know that much back to them. So I'm, I learned a lot from the talk. And, uh, so it's a, so it's a very interesting, they, they go back to see that stage, that period of time and it knows early stage, what the Chinese immigration look like. And, uh, thank you very much for doing that. No, she, the, the speaker did not want it recorded. But it was an interesting format because the speaker, the woman's, the historian speaking was on, was on zoom. She was on a big screen in front of the room and all of us were in the room and she was interacting with us as if she, as she couldn't even see us individually, but she was making such good eye contact that it felt, that it felt really interactive. It was really a nice, surprisingly effective format, just for us to keep in mind for the future. Yeah. I also, I understand that it wasn't recorded, but I'm wondering, um, for future events, if there's not a recording, if there are slides or anything, when the speakers are willing or able to share it, those would be great things to have just like a library we build of resources. Oh, she's going to share the slides with us. Oh, great. And can we put them on our website? Okay. Also, resource list. Yeah. I'm planning to invite her to talk. Great. Not in, in, and not in HRDIC, but in, in all groups where, I mean, tended to do that. And she said that she's really willing to do it. So I let you know because she speaks, uh, she, I don't think she speak Chinese, um, because when I asked her a question, she said that though, well, she's, uh, inconvenience is she cannot do the research in the Chinese, uh, uh, documentations. So I, I think if she, uh, she'd come back, I will let you guys know. Um, uh, we'll be, we'll do it in the zoom. Yeah. Right. So the next topic on our agenda is, um, uh, uh, and, uh, a community building initiative, um, that Jenna was going to tell us about. Okay. Yeah. So I'm part of this, um, Wayland community building team, and we've been meeting for some time now, um, exploring ways to, um, engage essential partners. Um, and we are going to have our next meeting on May 27th at 8 AM at Elizabeth Wirtz's house. Um, and anyone who is interested in being, uh, part of this team going forward is welcome to come. And I wanted to share with you, um, a draft proposal. Um, please note that this is a work in progress that we're hoping to grow and build. So it's just an initial attempt, um, recognizing that we're not the only effort in town trying to address, um, these challenges, but we are also actively reaching out and want to include, um, more voices as we continue. Currently, um, it's a team of about seven community members with various backgrounds, and we have drafted a problem statement and a theory of change. Um, again, this is in draft form, but the problem statement is that despite the presence of multiple community groups and initiatives focused on equity, inclusion, and community well-being, Wayland continues to experience incidents of racism and hate-based behavior. Current efforts are fragmented with limited coordination, shared strategy, or mechanisms for collective impact, resulting in responses often being reactive rather than preventive. In addition, existing initiatives don't consistently engage all segments of the community, acknowledging, of course, that these are difficult challenges, but particularly, uh, reaching those who may be socially isolated or less civically involved and at elevated risk for experiencing or perpetrating harm. So, these are all limits on the community's ability to build broad-based social cohesion and understanding, which are necessary, uh, for a hate-free community. Thus, our draft theory of change is that if Wayland develops a coordinated community-wide prevention strategy, grounded in mapping and aligning existing efforts, then the community can more effectively identify gaps, reduce duplication, and engage a broader cross-section of residents by strengthening social connectedness, building trust, and inclusive community norms, particularly through repeated meaningful interactions, um, such as the programs that we, um, have been running across all lines of difference. The community will increase protective factors, such as a feeling of belonging, which means feeling known, welcomed, and valued, as well as mutual accountability and collective efficacy. Training community leaders and residents in constructive dialogue and equipping them to facilitate inclusive, community-focused events and activities will build skills for navigating conflict, for addressing bias, for promoting healing, and fostering understanding. Together, these strategies can shift Wayland from a fragmented reactive approach to a coordinated, preventive, and proactive system, reducing risk factors associated with hate-based incidents and strengthening the community conditions that can make such incidents less likely to occur. So, the projects that we're talking about are a dialogue initiative with initial goals of building skills among community members, um, under a bigger umbrella of outreach to organizations and community members, um, with similar missions, which is ongoing, and the hope is to convene a meeting to bring diverse people together to represent, um, as many different, um, dimensions of the community as possible, to begin to explore together, creating communication pathways and processes, and building knowledge across groups and infusing current efforts with best practices toolkits, and, um, of course, to inspire ongoing and new efforts. That's our summary to date. Lofty goals. Kevin, did, did you want to say? I'm going to say I find myself having a little bit of a negative reaction, uh, and I wonder if anybody else is feeling that as well. Heather? Heather? Well, I, I, um, I'm excited by the possibilities, and I think all, all the ideas are, are really great, and I love in, you know, improving the community dot, um, dialogue. Um, I guess I am curious about the role of the HRDIC, and I'm curious about why the group, like, we have an existing body that is part of the town government. Why, like, why the HRDIC isn't a part of the conversation and, and working on this? We have been part of the conversation, um, we've, um, we've had, uh, interactions with Elizabeth Wurtz and Doug Levine, and I've been participating in these meetings to keep us, um, in touch. But essentially, um, this is a training initiative. The idea is to train a core of residents to be facilitators. So does this go back to the present? I, I thought it was a separate presentation for a specific project when Elizabeth and Doug were on the screen right behind Karen, um, and that they had needed a lot of funding and that, that initiative hadn't happened. But maybe I'm conflating two different things. Same, it's the same initiative. It's the same initiative. I think the funding would be to engage essential partners, um, who have training of trainers, expertise. Yeah, it's a lot, you know, um. Great organization. Yeah, to, um, to take this forward. But what I heard you talk about is the essential partners project that you're describing now. But also something much more overarching. And the overarching piece feels like a giant erasure to me of everything we've been doing for the last five years. And of the work of Wayland Ken over the last however, however couple of years, um, as if, uh, as if everything we've done has not been moving in that direction. And then, uh, and another group is coming in and saying, oh, well, all of that is reactive and not proactive and all those other things. Fragmented. Yeah, so in order, yeah. In order to put together a proposal, um, we thought that it would be helpful to have a problem statement and to have a theory of change. Um, but the, you know, I mean, there, uh, can has also, you know, been involved in this group and the intent of the, the group, which, um, is growing is essentially to support all of the different efforts which have been ongoing and to bring, to help to bring them together. It doesn't read that way. It doesn't read as good feedback. It reads as, uh, out another group coming in and oversee with, without, I don't know where the authority for that group comes from, but another group coming in and saying, okay, we're going to take over all this stuff and try to bring all the new people together. That's how it feels to me. Yeah, absolutely. The way that this group is looking at it is that, um, this is a community effort, you know, for democracy to function. Um, we need to have community initiative that is supportive of town efforts, which would be largely our committee. Um, but also that, um, you know, you, you, you kind of create effective demand. Um, and reaching out across as many different initiatives, which have been ongoing as possible to try to build demand for the town to support training a core of facilitators requires a proposal. Um, so I think conflating language in a proposal, which is to get funding for essential partners, um, is not a, it's not a judgment or an assessment. Um, it's not an attempt to replace. Um, in fact, I mean, this group is thinking that, um, it could be that we just work ourselves completely out of, out of a role that, you know, if we can get this training initiative. Um, as a support to all of these processes, which have been ongoing, that, um, the outcome would be a core of facilitators who are essentially, um, an on-call, you know, kind of response force, but could also, uh, be, you know, supporting this committee as kind of a, um, you know, if we want to do programming, who can we call on? Um, to facilitate, um, and there are these long time lags, because if you want to hire facilitators, if you want to engage essential partners, you'd have to fundraise and you have to, you know, do all of this writing and, you know, problem statements and theory of change and proposals and try to get somebody to put the money in. Um, and then, and then, you know, months can go by before you can even have a program to address what might've been an incident that you're trying to respond to. So we're thinking that by having townspeople who are trained facilitators, um, at the ready, that it will give us a more responsive capability as a community. Um, that the, um, that the, the intent is not to take over anything. It's really to, to achieve this piece, um, and to do it for the benefit of all the groups, um, that are involved in the work. So we would hope that, um, you know, that can, and other organizations in town would benefit from having a core of local trained facilitators. I have a question. Um, now having trained facilitators is great, but what happens when, you know, they're no longer, are you going to have others trained so that they can fill in because you're going to need something like that? And then we think we can do that. Um, the methodology that, um, essential partners uses, um, can, I mean, it can be iterative. Uh, you know, we can have refresher trainings where new people can come in and those who've already been trained can be coaches, um, you know, to kind of keep it going. Um, but, um, we're, we're, we're looking for, um, we're looking for broad input at this stage to get this off the ground.
Do you know, uh, who, how do you get it into this group? What's the criteria for getting into this group? Sorry, yeah, well, before, before we answer that question, I just want, I know that this is on public record. I spoke to Elizabeth, um, earlier and she made it sound like the meeting next week is a prep meeting or a select board meeting that's happening later. And that in fact, the meeting at her house is not currently open to the public. Uh, I may, I may have misread her message about that as we've been trying to invite new people, um, to come to these meetings. So let, let me get back to, um, let me get back to the group on the, the next meeting date. Great. And thank you, Sarah, for calling that out. Yeah, that, that next week is just a small group prep and that the select board meeting, I think she said is early June, which of course, everybody is welcome to attend. Are you on the committee, Sarah? I am not on the committee, no, but I am in various other ways connected to Elizabeth.
So, Sarah, I wasn't looking at the screen. So can you, what time did you arrive? I'm sorry. Oh, she's been here. She's been here the whole time? Oh, I didn't see something at all. I'm sorry. She's been here. But yeah, we had a question. Yes, sorry. Oh, Mariam did too, but now I don't see her. I can speak after Yalu. Oh, okay. There you are. Yalu. Yes. Yeah, go ahead. Did you have a question or a comment?
Yes. Okay. Yeah. Let's see what my question was. You asked who gets into the group. Who decided. How, how, how we get into the group. How, how, um, not how we, how did Jonah get into the group. Is that someone by invitation or how did it start it? Maybe, maybe you can give us a history. Um, it's the same history, um, from when we first, um, reported out. It started out as a conversation between, um, Doug Levine and Elizabeth Wirtz. And they reached out to me and we were exploring different ways of engaging essential partners. Originally, um, it was in response to an incident and it was taking so long, um, and obviously the fundraising to involve expertise like essential partners. Um, so the, the group has widened, um, just people who are interested coming together and the focus is on how to train a group of townspeople rather than how to address a specific incident is the shift. I have to, uh, excuse myself for a couple of minutes. Someone's on the door.
If I may add something, um, and Elizabeth, of course, in theory, this sounds great, but I'm, I'm a little confused and I would like to hear what Marianne also has to say about this. Uh, yes, this group doesn't want to, um, you know, take over what other groups are doing, but I would have appreciated if there was, uh, support for existing groups because what you describe sounds a lot like the freedom team that's been meeting for the last almost year, trying to build ground up. Um, um, we have Marianne and I on that, uh, group. There's the police chief. We have representatives from different places of worship. We have past select board members. Uh, we have our statement of confidentiality that everyone signed. We have, um, uh, incident response protocols and we're working on our proactive educational, uh, abilities. So I'm just wondering if starting something new is the best use of time versus supporting existing initiatives that are already lacking support in this town to be able to have the impact we're hoping to have. Um, I think the, um, the, you know, the input of the freedom team, um, would be really important. Um, you know, whether this idea of pursuing training of townspeople to have, um, facilitators, um, in the community, um, I would think that it would benefit the freedom team, but that would really be, you know, up to the freedom team. Um, to, to, to, to decide and more than welcome, um, to join an upcoming, um, you know, meeting with this group to try to provide some steering. Um, the freedom team is already getting restorative justice circle facilitation training. What I'm trying to say is that we are, we are duplicating efforts, even though we're saying we don't want to duplicate efforts. It's just like, even as someone who's part of HRDIC and the freedom team, when I hear different things popping up in separate spaces versus collaborating on what has been existing, it actually really just makes us lose motivation to keep going if all what we're doing is not, um, garnering support and everyone's going to start a new thing.
Yeah. And this is more of like a, I hope it's taken as a constructive, constructive criticism because of the care we all have for this work, right? We want this to have an impact and not just be something we have been giving a lot of time and I, and I'm sorry, Marianne, to put you on the spot, but I'm really hoping to hear your perspective. Also as someone who's part of both, um, cause it's, it's a little, uh, it's a little shocking to me to hear that it's very similar, but different. Um, so, um, so, um, well, um, I hadn't directly thought how, how competitive it is with the freedom team. I guess I would start by saying, um, there's only so much money that's, um, available to fund work like this. I don't know. And, and actually, you know, um, I know I hate to have, you know, you are here talking about it. So I'm actually going to end up directed at you. Um, you know, how, you know, whether, you know, money that any either HRDIC or anybody would try to get, you know, would, you know, we're all competing for the same jobs. So, um, it, it is a concern, um, uh, just hearing, um, that, and you're ready to, you know, you're ready to make presentation to the select board and, um, we don't know anything. I don't know who knows anything about, I assume, you know, something about essential partners, but someone must, but, you know, who's got the in with them and who makes them, you know, these, you know, essential, essential ones. Um, so, you know, I, I, I think, uh, I appreciate wanting to have a smaller group, but it, you can also see that it feels a little exclusive, um, you know, in an, uh, in an effort that is always supposed to be maximally inclusive. So, um, it slows everybody down, but it, you end up with a better product if there are more voices and, um, people around the room. Um, and, uh, so, um, um, I'm, you know, would all of us love to have a little cadre of people to talk, uh, you know, to, to help actually be facilitators, um, the, um, and just, uh, you know, it's like, who's being selected to do that and how we made that maximally inclusive. Um, and, um, and to include the voices that are working, I mean, Elizabeth is there, but, and you're there, um, but the Freedom Team isn't necessarily there, and, um, I don't know. It's, uh, you know, it's, uh, I, I hear, I'm excited about facilitators, but, you know, it's, there's a lot of unknowns here, and it's, and it's going forward. Um, um, it's going forward because the people involved are powerful. Well, I think it's going forward because, uh, people are committed, but I really don't think that anybody wants to, um, compete, um, either for dollars or for, um, community or participation. I mean, I really think it's, um, you know, it's a good-hearted effort to move the agenda forward, and I do think it's really important that the, you know, that the, honestly, I did not know the Freedom Team is doing training or, you know, has had any intention of doing training. So, I mean, it, it's hard for, you know, all of us to keep everybody informed of all the details of what's going on, but I think, you know, I mean, I think everybody wants to be supportive of all efforts and, and wants to see more coordination across efforts. So, um, I mean, the way I see this group is that, I mean, there are people in town who are motivated. I don't see them in other groups, and they want to see, you know, some move the needle somehow, but they're not trying to create a new group and take charge of anything. They're trying to support ongoing community processes and being more responsive. So, I would hope that we could get together with the Freedom Team, then guide us. So, in other words, what you're saying is, they're trying to, instead of trying to create something new, what they're trying to do is support what's already existing. Is that what I'm hearing? Yeah, I mean, the group is not committed to being a group forever, or, I mean, we didn't even know what to call ourselves. We're just a group of townspeople who think that we need trained facilitators. That's the one thing we all agree on. And we've looked at essential partners, and we think that they're a good resource. So, that's where, you know, the whole project has really, I mean, it's evolved from, I think, the first report. We had a three-step idea that we were going to have a facilitated dialogue around issues of a specific incident, and then we would move towards inviting townspeople to get trained, and because it took so long, we thought we should just cut to the chase and say about getting a trained cadre so that we have more capacity in the community that could be drawn on by all of the groups who are organized. I love the idea of having more trained facilitators in town. I think that that would be an awesome resource. I guess I'm a little bit confused that that's the only thing, because in the problem statement, it talks about, in spite of all the group, well, I'm just hearing it, but in spite of all the groups, the work's fragmented and not moving forward, and so we are also here to coordinate all this work. So, that sounds like it's more than just... Well, I have to say, I've got to just be there, because this is really, you know, it was a problem statement that somebody put, you know, one person put a lot of work into crafting as a straw man. And, I mean, I feel a little bit hesitant about even sharing it, because I can't stress enough that it's a starting point, and we are inviting participation to work on problem statement, to work on theory of change, but I thought it was important for this group to kind of, you know, know what we're actually talking about trying to frame these things, trying to frame, you know, really, what is the, what is the issue that we're trying to address, and what is the, you know, if we do this, then what will happen, the theory of change? So, another way to frame the issue is you have, you have some groups in town who are working really hard to address these same exact issues, which would be the Freedom Team, Waylon Ken, and the HRDIC. So, another way to frame your thing would be, how can we support these groups, which is what you're saying verbally, but it really isn't what you read in that draft, and I think that's what we're getting, you know, stuck on. Yeah. So, the feedback I would love for you to take back to the group is, could you find a different way to frame it that is more... Supportive. Supportive and acknowledging of the work that is being done to accomplish the very same exact goals, and think about how this initiative would support it, because also, you know, like we, for example, have Jamil Adams and Inrene Hayes, who've been very effective in the past six months, you know, since the fall, at doing different, you know, trainings and skill building, some of the same exact things you're talking about, responding to incidents, and I think we'll get to that. Oh, I forgot to write numbers, I'm sorry, on these agenda items, but we'll get to that when we get to discussion and possible vote on funding request to the select board, is, you know, we too will have a vision of how we want to, or do we want to continue with these individuals who we think are very effective, and so, this just feels like so sideways to the things that are already being done, and so, anyway, I don't want to beat a dead horse, although I just did, but I would ask if you would bring that kind of feedback to them, yeah. That's great feedback. I think I'd also add. Hi, this is Yawu. It's similar to me, it's a, this group is training a group of leaderships within the town, and so, you know, you said the moderators, that kind of lead to a kind of leading leadership role, so, with that, is this group, how this group is produced, are they open to public, so that everyone have the chance to be involved in that group, or it's going to be selectively, and that that's, I'm worried about it, is, I would meet in this, our goal of inclusive, it could, things like that. I know this group is very informally organized, and it is open, and it's the wish of the group is to invite more people to provide guidance, to come into the group to provide guidance. Yeah, so far, it hasn't been invited to anybody other than this group. Who are the, who are the people in that group, how this is formed? Yeah, well, are you talking about, well, are you asking whether this group will be open to everyone, or are you asking whether the group of people who get trained as facilitators will be open to everyone? Both. Both. Yeah.
Yeah, I mean, both are. You need it to open to everyone for both. Otherwise, we'll be, we'll have an issue in the future, for sure. Both, both are intended to be, um, open, inclusive, um, of everyone.
May I add, since this is not an organized or, like, group that wishes to move forward as a group, it sounds like there's a future plan to meet with a select board. I'm wondering if, uh, they would, like, the kind of work they do is offering support to this body that's already existed, and monitored and supposedly, I mean, supported by the select board as well, so, so that they can be the arm that's bringing in the new resource or that new idea of training, uh, through the HRDIC, uh, or in collaboration with the HRDIC, and that way it will be open to all those other groups that are already doing the work or to other, you know, residents who would like to get trained or that would like to benefit from any of the other resources or initiatives they have. I think, like, I think, like, just sustainability and accountability-wise, the more something is, you know, connected to an existing structure, the better.
Yes. I think that, um, that would be a great way forward. Mm-hmm. Um, Denise has been trying to speak. Hold on. Yo, I know you guys, you guys can't hear. As a sidebar, I asked Mary. We should only have one conversation at a time, but, well, I mean, I know you weren't heard, so do you feel satisfied now, or do you still have a question? Yeah, I was happy with Mary's answer. Um, I have one thing that I'd like to add, kind of, uh, about the Freedom Team, is that, you know, we've really selected people to be on the Freedom Team, in part because they did bring some expertise. So, you know, we have ministers and social workers and, um, medical professionals. So, I would just say, um, in the scheme of thinking about facilitators, we have, um, particularly, um, uh, you know, that we, we had chosen people who were to be, have some expertise, um, and tried to, you know, we've lost a few members. So, we're now, we're looking for a few more members, but it's, um, you know, that was the goal of us. So, I just wanted to put that out there that, um, uh, in thinking about what Mary was saying about, you know, having, uh, you know, we have a certain amount of expertise. And we do do some training, like, because the, uh, Freedom Team is a part of a consortium, um, uh, that, uh, Jamil, um, actually started this group. And there's 10, I think, uh, 9 or 10, um, uh, communities that are a part of it. So, um, which have a similar group that are, uh, so it's, it's a model and I want to put it forward and, um, and, and, you know, it's just hard to hear that, you know, it's, uh, you know, I don't know what's going to be said at the next select board meeting, but, um, you know, usually we bring finished products to select, you know, so I don't know. We just feel kind of, you know, how we might be able to be included in that process at some point, um, like I think what all of us are saying. So, anyhow, we appreciate you bringing it forward here and hearing our concerns. Does the Freedom Team see itself as, um, becoming facilitators or as more of a, like, you know, strategic guidance kind of a group? Well, it is supposed to be directly responding to individuals. Um, but, you know, actually it depends on their own iterations. Some of the towns have done training, um, that we get training, um, to try to enhance our skills as, um, like in restorative, um, justice, we had opportunity to train and that actually, that training included trying to facilitate conversations around restorative justice. But, as any teacher might need to know, Heather, that is, uh, you know, that's a, that's a challenging thing. And, um, you know, maybe as a teacher, you get a little more practice. So, um, but anyhow, it's, it is a, a source, uh, a resource for the community. And, um, we are actually struggling to find our, our voice and hope that you hear us and, you know, help us, amplify us in that effort so we can work together on that with the HRGIC and other groups, all of us. So, thank you so much for bringing this to us and for your gracious listening to all of our concerns. This reminds me of annual town meeting where the thing that you think is going to take up a small amount of time ends up being a big conversation and vice versa. So, here we are. I did not anticipate this. We have a consent calendar. Yeah, exactly. Exactly. Exactly. But, uh, I think we probably said more than said everything we need to say and maybe repeated a few things a few times. So, I think we, we can move on. Um, let's maybe do these next two kind of quick. Okay. And I don't know that there's much update here, but the Museum of Fine Arts tour, would anybody like to speak to, is anything happening on that? Or are you guys just waiting to connect with? I, I have spoken with Karen Crown, um, when we saw her the other day. And we are supposed to be getting together sometime to plan this, but, um, it's really when she's ready. She's had, um, some medical stuff, so we gave her a little recovery time. Great. Okay. Um, and then the fifth anniversary bulletin board display. Is there anything to say about that? No.
No update right now. It's definitely going to be a summer project. Sounds great. Um, so the next topic at 645, we're running a little late, but I think we're going to, we're going to be fine, uh, is discussion and possible vote on funding requests to the select board. So this does tell a bit with the topic we just spoke about. Um, I have been thinking about, uh, along with Heather, we have been thinking about a $5,000 ask to the select board, not for a line item budget, because we know they don't have room for us in their line item budget. Uh, but for, uh, for the, for the coming fiscal year, um, and I'm sorry, but I need to actually open my computer to look at the, I, Heather, you don't have that document open, do you? Um, no, yeah, can you, you might be able to find it quicker than me, do you, or should I look forward or do you think you can find it? Uh, well, we can, we can race. We'll go, we'll race. Okay. Sorry, folks. Um, give me a sec.
What am I looking for? Hotspot.
Um, this will be. I gotta, yeah, here we go. I found it. Okay. Um, we were looking at a request for $4,500 for facilitator and presenter stipends. That would be like, um, Jamil and Renee or whomever. Um, and then 500 for expenses for food and beverages and materials and supplies and outreach and marketing. Um, so we'd be looking last year, we spent 400 on human rights day. So we put in 500 as a way of saying 400 plus for human rights day. Although that we actually got a grant for, but you never know if you're going to get a grant. Um, and then we'd have to apply for grants for any additional food or beverages or outreach and marketing materials or posters that we want to make. Um, but so the, the thought would be 4,500 for stipends for professionals and then 500 for other expenses. Um, and wondered how that sounds to all of you.
Um, actually, um, it would help us be more responsive if we had the money instead of having to request the money. Um, and, um, I, so I think it's a great idea because we could really respond to an incident, um, if we had money ready at hand for that. I think, you know, over the last year, I think we've also really demonstrated, um, you know, the capability. Um, we, I mean, if we're going to continue working with Jamil and even Renee, um, they're, you know, they're trusted collaborators in our community now. And I think, you know, it would be, it would be great if we could look at it as kind of a, um, you know, a pro of the basis of programming that our committee would support on an ongoing basis. Yeah. Um, and there was, um, as Heather mentioned, there was a lot of interest at the Conversations Not Confrontation series for continuing that. We talked about a couple different possibilities. One is maybe Jamil could do a monthly drop-in where people who had issues around navigating complex conversations online or in person could come in, um, for coaching, either as a group or as individuals. Um, kind of the way the talent social worker, the social worker who's embedded in the police department, um, she has a thing at the library once a month where it's open hours. Really? Yep. And people can come in and talk with her about whatever might be on their minds. Um, so we're thinking about that as a possibility. I don't know how long money would last, you know, we might get supportive grants, but maybe we could start it ourselves. Um, Heather, what was the, oh gosh, what was the other structural thought about Jamil? Um, one of the thoughts was, one of the thoughts was if we could set something up through like park and rec that a regular type meeting, a regular test gathering time, like at the community center, um, where people could come together and have conversations. And again, the question is who would facilitate, or are we at a point where if there's not a hot topic, people feel comfortable coming together to connect. Cause that idea of connecting when there's not a crisis so that you get to know and build relationships and have been vulnerable with others, um, is part of the foundation of the work. Um, so if, you know, one of the things that came up was, could there be something that's in park and rec as a, a monthly, you know, community conversations and come by the, the community center, big, that big room there. Great idea. I like it. I like that idea too, but I'm wondering also about the, um, the work that Jamil has been doing with kids. Um, but this, you know, with the schools and especially the sports teams, but I mean, that I don't, I really don't think that should be a one-off as a crisis response. You know, I think that kind of engagement, um, it would be really important to that. We can't grab Caroline here, but I don't know, is that something which the school department is looking at? Okay. Well, that's totally up to the schools, but yeah. Okay. Yeah. But to bring him to share some of the skills with adults, which is what he did this past four. Um, whatever, four months is, and, and maybe we can embed a little bit more with younger people there, there, with the people who came to conversations, not confrontations, you know, a little on the older side. And, um, we want to, you know, if we can get in with parents of younger children and families, that would be fantastic. So that's something to, I just wanted to mention that both Jamil and Dr. Eden Renee are, are part of our freedom team. And Jamil is the freedom team idea. It's his idea. Um, and, um, and though he's, you know, he's all, he's usually at the collaborative, which is the once a month, uh, all representatives from each of the freedom teams meet, um, and kind of talk about what's happening in their towns and their teams. Um, but Dr. Eden Renee is a part of our team. So just wanted to say important, just our previous conversation and this one that they're, you know, active. We have some depth in our group, some skills, but again, people have to be paid for their time. We can't ask people to do this work for free in our community. So are there any specific thoughts or comments or suggestions about, um, the proposed dollar amount? I don't think there's a, I think we should go to the board and start them. I don't think it's no harm, no foul. Yep. Give it a shot. We could at least give it a shot. Yep. So where would the money go? Um, because if we don't want to have to wait to have them cut a check and then send it out, how are we going to do this? No, they do have to cut the checks. So it would go into the HRDIC account. Okay. And then somebody would submit an invoice for their services that we would have agreed to ahead of time. And the town pays, they theoretically pay out within two weeks. Um, and people who work with the town, they understand that, that there's going to be a little delay, but hopefully not a long delay. Yeah. It kind of cuts out the originating idea of time. Where it will be another whole month or six weeks. Right. Well, and it cuts out having to go through a whole grant process in terms of timing too. That's true. Not that we can't still do grants, but it does give us a little more flexibility. Well, the idea is that this, um, is going to, you know, partially cover, uh, programming and partially cover, you know, kind of responsible, I was going to say responsiveness. You know, if there is an incident to have the flexibility to convene something right away. Um, you know, I mean, we, we, we, we never know. Um, I mean, it would be wonderful if, you know, we had a year without any incidents, but I think, um, I think you just need to maybe think through a little bit, um, the wording on how the money would be spent. Um, that, um, it would be, you know, available with some kind of, um, a, you know, a retained portion for crisis response until like, you know, fourth quarter. And if it's not utilized, you know, by the fourth quarter, then it would be for a program at, you know, at that time of year. Thank you.
I just, I don't know if anybody, um, some of our, whether 5,000 is enough for that to know. So when we think about what we're really paying people, like, you know, for domestic violence, we paid someone that was a $5,000, you know, kind of arrangement. So we had a grant, um, so just, uh, you know, I don't know if we could ask for more, but it's, I'm just saying, but it's better than nothing, better than what we've had before. And, um, it would be lovely to have something. Well, to that point, I wonder if we ask for a little bit more because, you know, we were thinking of that based on more like the past expenditures for fixed programs. But to Janot's point, and as you're saying, what if we increased it, saying we were going to retain a portion and not, not say we're going to spend it in the fourth quarter, but say we'd like to have a portion that we could access, um, in case we need to be, so that we can be more responsive if an emergency or a more urgent situation arose. Yeah, so, I mean, you could call it a contingency. Yes. And we think of that, you know, of that contingency amount that it could be rolled over, you know, into the next year if it's not drawn down. Yeah. I think that's the thing. I think the regular is more effective and, um, most, if we do something every month, there are any kind of incidents could be folded into that month. And, uh, I don't know how, if there's any kind of emergency that, uh, we have to do something that, then it's, uh, we will have a contingency fund, which we can handle. So, that kind of emergency. It's kind of monthly programming, then we would need to budget for that. Yeah. But for the contingency, I mean, it's almost just like asking them for a commitment that if something comes up, they recognize the urgency to not have to go through a grant cycle or wait for however many more meetings, um, that we would have access to some funds. And that's a commitment on the town side that this work is important and it will, you know, that part, that contingency piece will be spent if needed. Yeah. And, you know, I mean, we were, we were just so lucky that we had had all those, you know, delays with the, um, Middlesex County, um, you know, attorney general program. That the timing, you know, just happened to, to work. But, um, I think that's a good argument that, you know, if something like that happens, we would more than likely than not be caught completely, um, unable to mount a response like that, which was a very appropriate response. It turned out. And that actually didn't cost us, though. The DA came for free. Yeah. Did they? Yeah. I was just going to ask. Yeah. But we wouldn't be able to, you know, hire Jamil and Lisa Renee to organize something for us, um, unless we had the means. Sure. Or amp up what is regularly happening. Let's say a regular conversation is one thing, but in the face of a larger issue, you might want to bring in some, uh, a more experienced voice. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. So. This collaboration. Yeah. Go ahead. Go ahead. Sorry. Denise. And then who was just speaking? Was that Sarah? Who was speaking? Maryam. I can't see you speaking in the room. So sorry, Denise. I know it happened twice. Okay.
Um, my question is, since we just approved the budget, the town budget, where, where will the money come from? Yes. Well, that's not for us to decide. That's for the slot board to figure out. They have funds. They have sort of, you know, general kinds of funds, um, that they can use for one-off purposes like this. Um, they can choose how to spend them, but yeah. Okay. Yep. Yeah. Mariam? Yeah, I was just going to, um, add to the previous conversation that, um, the idea of this new group also possibly bringing in trainings or resources through the select board or the HRDIC that may also possibly cost money. Um, because I know the restorative justice training costs money and people have to chip in to cover that. Um, also I will need to leave in a couple minutes to pick up, uh, my daughter. Uh, would this be a good time for me just to say a little about the Cultural Council grant for a couple minutes so I can leave that and not postpone it to next time? Yeah, why don't we do that? Let's move to the Cultural Council grant opportunities and then we can come back to this budget discussion. Sure. Yeah. Um, Mariam is going to give us a quick summary so we can be geared up for the fall and not miss the deadline. Yeah. Just, uh, you know, two, two minute, uh, heads up. So the, um, application, sorry, the application for the Cultural Council grant opens on September 2nd. Uh, there's an information session on September 9th and the deadline for the application is October 16th. Uh, decisions should come up, come out around mid-January. Um, so basically it's, you know, there's an application. If you get accepted, you plan your, um, event and then within a year you'll have to, uh, so this is like a reimbursement basis grant. You submit your, uh, receipts, invoices, uh, with the reimbursement form to the Cultural Council and then, um, you'll get reimbursed. It's a fairly simple process, just the most important thing is to have the plan ready by the application date. Yes. And you said the deadline is October 16th. Did I get that right? Yes. And there should be an information session, uh, September 9th. Uh, Kevin and I are both on the Cultural Council. I am ending my term soon, just, you know, in case, you know, questions come up as this, we go through the cycle, um, we can reach out to them. Or Kevin can, can be that link between both, um, just as we assess further, but for now, let's keep those dates. Hopefully they also help with planning things forward. Is there a dollar amount, uh, like a max or a suggested or? I think you, you will ask, you make an ask, and then the Cultural Council, depending on who, who else, you know, asks for money, um, you know, each person has their criteria, where is that event happening and, um, what we funded or not. And then, then we make a decision on how to distribute the amount we have. Okay. Thanks. I think, I think you, I think you either ask or request and, you know, it depends on what we, I think if I remember correctly, it's what we ever, we have in the budget, you know, like you can ask for 1,000, 2,000, 2,500 all the way up to whatever. What would be it, 100,000? No, no, no, no, no, no. But I think. You try to fund mostly everyone, so, I mean, it has to be reasonable. Yeah.
Great. So let's keep our eye on that, um, because it's so easy to miss these deadlines and that seems like a really obvious place for us to apply for funding for whatever you can be. Thank you both and thank you for serving as a liaison between the two committees. Thank you, if you want to keep us on task. Thanks. Mariam, I can't even see you there, so will you just give a little whisper when you're leaving so we know when you're gone? I, I will need to leave. Is that, do we need to vote on something before I go? Uh, we don't. We still want to vote. No, we're on the forum. We're good. We can vote if we want, or you can leave if you have to leave. But let's go back to the, um, funding request. Do you want to stay for the vote? I, I am kind of late, so we'll leave that to you. Yeah, go ahead. We're good. We're good. So Mariam's leaving at 715. All right. Um, 715. All right. Okay. Uh, back to the budget. So what do we think about asking for 7,500, where 2,500 would be in the contingency, and if we don't spend it on emergencies, if they can carry money over, and I don't know whether that's a thing. Um, I was going to say, well, you know, you said 7,500, how about we make it a full 8,000? A full 8,000. Going once, going twice. So, 8,000. It's worth, you know, it's worth asking. And then, if they don't want to do 8,000, maybe they'll say, well, no, how about we give you 75,000? I know, yeah, exactly. Well, I think they're going to ask, you know, for an indicative budget, so just be prepared. What does that mean? Um, it means, what does it cost, for example, to, um, quick organize a, a program in response to an incident?
And if we're doing any other programs, what do you think? We ask for a contingency, we have to do a support request. Right. You need kind of, you need a budget for something that we can be using this. Yeah. So, you need a facilitator, you need, I don't know, a venue, you need freshmen. Heather, you, you, when you and I talked about this, you had a different point of view about how much detail you thought we would need to provide. Well, I had, in terms of, um, our original plan, we were just basing it off of what we had spent, what the grant we had gotten for Jamil and rounded that just because we thought we might want two people. But I don't know what it would cost to bring somebody in, in, in a, you know, a more urgent response situation to facilitate just a couple meetings. Um, or, or, or we could use that amount as, you know, how much it costs to bring in facilitator. But I think it varies tremendously depending on who it is and what exactly they're doing. And if, if they're facilitating a conversation versus presenting something. Well, what you just said, Heather, I think is the level of detail that, you know, I mean, it's honest. It's how you actually came up with the number. I think that's what you might need to just be prepared to explain. I mean, I mean, a point Heather and I talked about was when, when town organizations put in their budgets, they don't say every detail, they have a line item, right? And it's expenses or it's professional services, and they don't specify every single thing they're going to do. And so the question is, do we need to? So we've gone back and forth quite a bit on the festival budget. And, you know, I mean, I'm making these remarks because I'm trying to save you having to go back meeting after meeting and have them tell you, can you sharpen your pencil and, you know, so you need to, you know, if you don't want to go back and forth and negotiate, you need to be prepared to answer the questions and to support the budget that you're requesting. Okay. So do we feel we can vote on a budget amount without having done that? Or do you want Heather and me to go back to the drawing board and then come back with what you call an indicative budget? I think we can vote to support an amount with the caveat that you and Heather will work together to support the budget. And maybe that amount will have a little bit of flexibility in it. Like Kevin was saying, why not round up to 8,000? Just know that you may not get it. And we don't know what a contingency, you never know what the exact numbers are going to be. You know, I mean, everything costs a little bit more. Are you using standard rate of inflation? You know, I mean, so there's a little bit of wiggle room in there. I'm going to suggest then that we vote on a budget up to $8,000 rather than an exact amount, because when we work on the budget, I don't want to have to finagle it to equal $8,000. That doesn't feel morally correct. All right. So let's say up to $8,000 if that feels comfortable to you all. Yes. How about online? Anybody want to say anything? Do we clarify this is we know fiscal budget is not included in here, right? Correct, correct, correct. And we will specify this doesn't want to include the festival. Yes. Okay, thank you. Well, that's got to be a separate. Anybody else online want to say anything?
All right. So would somebody make a motion? I'm going to make a motion that we talk with the or have a discussion with the Board of Selectments about getting a possible budget for the Human Rights, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee for a budget up to $8,000. Can we say to request funding? I mean, you guys tell me, but I think budget sounds like a budget line. Funding up to $8,000. I don't know. Presentations slash facilitations. Yes. I don't know. Yes. Just budget. Just a budget. Programming budget. Okay. So, Kevin moves to discuss with the Board of Selectments, to request from the Board of Selectments, right? Select board. Sorry, the select board. The select board to request funding of up to $8,000. Yeah. Okay. Meaning we don't know who'll get $8,000. Right. You know, we're requesting up to $8,000. Yeah. Yep. And Heather and I will come up with a more granular proposed amount. Okay. So, is there a second? Second. Denise seconds. Okay. Are we ready to vote? Mm-hmm. Kevin? Yes. Marianne? Yes. Denise? Yes. Jenna? Yes. Heather? Yes. Yawu? Yes. Sarah?
Oops. I wonder, Sarah, are you frozen? Are you with us? She's frozen. She's frozen. Okay. Can you hear me? Yes. Yes. Yes. That was Sarah, yes. Thank you. And Sophie? Yes. Thank you so much. And Maya and Asma? There it is. Oh, see, we can't see. I can't see them. Maya? Yes. And Asma? Yes. Can you make it so the people who are here, we can see their blank squares, even if their faces aren't on the screen? Yeah. That's one. I think there's one more. Yeah, there's one. Okay. Yeah, you don't have to show your faces if you don't need to, but hopefully we can get your square on there so we can get you there. Very big legs. Whoa. Yeah. All right. Thank you. We're working on it. Okay. Great. Thanks, everybody. Erin, could you repeat the motion? Could you read so it's easier to do the minutes? Yes. Kevin made a motion to request from the select board funding of up to $8,000 for the HRDEI siege. And Denise seconded it, seconded the motion. And it was a unanimous vote. So, so thank you. Thank you. Okay. Okay. I think we're going to pass over the next item here, which is cultural and holiday statements to give a couple people more time to do some work on that. Um, is that correct? Mm-hmm. Okay. So then we're right on schedule. Um, this item, discussion of feasibility of live streaming future programs for increased accessibility. Somebody raised this question and now I'm sorry to say, I don't remember who, and I don't know if it was someone in this room or someone at one of our programs, but they said, can we live stream our programs like the two conversations series so that they're more accessible to people who, for whatever reason, may not be able to come in person? Um, and I just, I wanted to put that on the table for a short discussion.
Well, we, we, we would, I believe we would have to, you'd have to talk to Wakeham on that. Um, because I think Wakeham is the one that does the wide streaming like they do for town meeting. You'd have to, you'd have to talk to Wakeham. I think it's, who is it, Jim Malene? Sure. Mark Foreman. Yeah. Mark Foreman. Mark Foreman. So that's the technical angle. Then there's also the angle of the nature of the conversations, which are pretty personal, at least in the, the two conversations series that we do. Um, and how, how would that affect the conversations? Heather, and then I think Marianne, maybe you wanted to say something. I was going to say for me, I feel like it depends on the nature of the event. Um, so I think, uh, the two most recent programs we've had at the library and then, um, with Jamil are, I think those would be very hard, um, logistically in part because at the, in Jamil's work, you know, we had small groups, like you turn and you had a lot of time was working with other people. Um, but also I think, um, some of the conversations wouldn't happen if you had no idea who was watching you. Um, and that I, I think there's a difference between a conversation and maybe if everybody's online and we see everybody and we have some guidelines, like everybody have their camera on, or I don't, I don't know, maybe if their guidelines and everything's online, um, or if it's something like a, more of a presentational type thing with Q and a, like a webinar, I can, I can see. So I, I think it's a, both there are times when it feels like it would work well. And then there are times when I would have reservations, even as myself, as a participant of whether I'd put myself out there and have challenging conversations. If I felt like people were watching and I had no idea who might be there.
I agree with you. It's dependent on your, the nature of your program. Right. But I think Marianne wants to say something. I would just add that sometimes a speaker, if there's a speaker, doesn't want that. So we always have to ask the speaker if there is a speaker. True. Yeah. Um, I don't think it's appropriate for, um, a meeting that, um, has face-to-face conversations and especially small group conversations to have, um, external participants. I don't think a hybrid mode is appropriate for that kind of a meeting. Um, I think it is appropriate to have a fully virtual meeting where the rules are made clear that, you know, you need to turn on your camera and your active participation is expected and that it will be facilitated. Um, it's not fair to, um, participants who show up in person. And I think, as I think Heather also mentioned that, you know, I mean, it's, uh, it can be hugely inhibiting. I mean, you're not going to, um, have the kind of, you know, level of, you know, intimacy and conversation that you can have, you know, when you trust the person who you're sitting with, uh, and you don't know who's just listening in, um, that it's just, it's not appropriate. And that, I mean, that being said, I, I do also appreciate the question and the fact that some people maybe feel isolated or they can't come to events. So I'm wondering if, um, you know, one of our goals for next year could be to create like, like one, an event, like Janot said, that's fully online. And, and that's facilitated in a way that there are small breakout rooms and you do have some of those conversations, but they're kind of different rules and everybody knows. And of course you never know who's, who's listening there, but everybody's playing by the same rules and is aware of the situation. So maybe in response to that concern and, and, and out of respect for and understanding that not everybody can get out to an event on a Tuesday night, um, that we intentionally figure out and, and use some of that money to plan an event or a conversation. Yep. And, and it is a much more inclusive way to do it, to offer, you know, different, different venues, virtual and face-to-face. Kevin, were you going to say something? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Well, also said we couldn't be required pre-registration. You have to sign up for, and then maybe we can ask the credential that your name, such an email. Yeah. Yep. And ask people to turn their cameras on if they can. Yeah. Yeah, it's definitely possible. I did a whole, like my whole seed training, um, was all around, but like very difficult conversations and it was all virtual because it hit right when it happened right when COVID hit. So it's definitely possible. And so I think, yeah, varying how we reach people is a great idea. I think so too. I really like that idea a lot of being intentional about it. Yeah. That's great.
Thank you. That's really helpful. Um, cultural council grant opportunities we talked about, um, we're way of the schedule. Well, the cultural council, um, grant opportunities makes me think of something I wanted to bring up in the announcements, um, you know, to sort of just keep you up on the housing partnership. Um, we do have the, um, the initiation now of a new housing production plan through planning department and that, you know, will be an RFP going out to hire a contractor to do the housing production plan. But in conjunction with that, um, we had talked about doing, you know, collaborating with the housing partnership on having like fair housing, uh, forum. Oh yeah, we did. And we voted, we voted to do that, but it never happened. Right. Yes. We're still waiting to do that. Okay. And, um, you shared with me this brilliant, um, ADU participatory theater program. And I shared that with the housing partnership and, you know, what do you, what do you guys think? You know, we could do something in conjunction with the housing forum, collaborate with the HRDEIC and true story theater. Yes. The true story theater. Yeah. So, um, that's, it's just an idea of a way that, um, we could use arts infused programming, um, around the issues of fair housing. Um, it's basically a, you know, sort of storytelling approach, but, um, it, it makes the engagement, um, a lot more fun, memorable, and hopefully would help to bring, you know, more people to the conversation. So true story theater, which some of you may or may not have heard of, you can Google it. It's a local group that does improv, basically like it's an improv troupe that helps people address like really challenging issues around belonging, around housing. Or do you want to put it in? Well, or is sensitive, sensitive, sensitive, complex issues, sensitive issues. And one of the things they're doing now, like, cause I still get their emails is I can't remember what town it's in, but in one of the towns, maybe one of the M towns, I can't remember in Massachusetts. Um, they're, they're doing a true story theater thing with people who live in public housing, talking about what is that like? Um, and so for, for folks to share their own feelings about it, and then for other members of the community to hear what they have to say, so people can learn one another. So, um, that just happens to be one of the things they're doing. Looks like they might be working with the Arlington Housing Authority. Arlington, okay. Oh, there you go. Thank you. Thank you. So bringing that experience, working with different housing issues and housing authorities, uh, bringing that to Wayland, I mean, we have a little bit of a different context, but I think, um, it would be a brilliant way to widen the conversation around fair housing. You know, I, I can think of a lot of provocations. Um, you know, I mean, do you, would you like to have affordable housing in your neighborhood? Um, would you mind holding family housing in your neighborhood? I mean, there's just, there's so many different dimensions that we could, uh, that we could explore in a creative way, something like that. So thank you. Food for thought. Thank you. Good announcement. Um, another announcement is next month. So there's a couple of people who are applying to, we have a couple of people stepping down, as we know, sadly, from the HRDIC and a couple of people applying to join. Um, they may get interviewed June 1st. So we may have a few new people as of June 1st and possibly beyond. Um, so if we do, if, if the select board interviews them before our June meeting, we'll vote in June on officers for the HRDIC. So be thinking, be thinking about that and whether you're interested in the roles of chair, vice chair, or, um, what am I missing? No, uh, clerk. I don't think we're going to need a treasurer anymore, right? Because I think we're going to offload the treasurer role. I mean, there's, you just, you know, it's, it's a name. Yeah. Yeah. Well, because the festival is so complex, and I think we've got to find we have a separate, better ways of addressing that. Yeah, but if we get that other grant, we still need to keep, we, we might have to keep records on that. Which? The $8,000, you know, we need to have a process. Oh, yes. Oh, that's true. If we even get the $8,000, we may or may not. Whatever we get, but whatever amount we get, if any, you are right, we will need to keep our hands on that. So maybe we still do need a treasurer then. But that would be good. Yeah. Okay. Okay. Um, so we'll think about that for next month. Also wanted to mention that today, the, um, town manager and the Whalen police issued a statement that, uh, Marianne brought to my attention about the, um, horrific shooting at a mosque in San Diego. Wow, they need to get fast. Yes, they went fast. They were fast and they did it, um, which is lovely. And they did one a couple months ago, sadly, when there was a, a synagogue, uh, shooting, was it? No, so many things I can't, but. And this one went, um, because I read it, it went first at the mosque and then a little further on, and then in a car were the two. Yeah. Yeah. It's all. It's all horrific. Yeah. And I think I, I would like to phrase the police department and the town manager for getting that statement out quickly. Um, so I just wanted to mention that. Um, do we want to point anybody to it? To what? It is on, it's in the, on the town home page. Point anybody to it. Yes, go ahead. I'm sorry. Right. So, you know, I mean, I don't think we, um, I don't know the protocol here because you know, we are supposed to announce something ahead of time, so we can't necessarily have it on our page, but it would be nice to acknowledge that the town did write this and maybe they would like to read it. Um, you know, I just think, you know, I also like to celebrate that they responded so fast and it's a very, um, you know, appreciate that response. And we want, I, we want, we don't want people to come to our site and find nothing. And, uh, when we, when our town really did do something, we could at least say, you know, please see, you know, the, we can put it under our news and announcements. It's under their news and announcements, but we also need to put the one that they did previously, which I looked for today and couldn't find because the news didn't seem to go far enough down. It was only, it stopped at like, at least for me, it stopped at like April 21st or something, and I couldn't go. Our news and announcements? No, not ours, but the town's. I couldn't, maybe it was just me, but we need to make sure if we put one, we should put the other one on there too. So that they're both accessible. Well, it might be an issue with their, with, with the new town. I know. Or it could have just been me that I just couldn't find stuff further down at the moment. I feel like I saw, um, the statement that was done a couple of months ago. I want to say it was on, um, either the police department's Facebook or like a town Instagram account that hadn't posted. So I know it is available online somewhere. Well, but it should be, it is on, it was on the town website under news. And you used to be able to go down news and follow it a whole long way down. And I don't know if you still have it. It's like a, it's like a file system. It should be a file. Yes. And it used to be in, I don't know whether it still was. Yeah. So, um, we have a new webmaster, we have a new website. And so that's a question for Jalen. Okay. Um, so I don't know if you know Jalen, but of course we know Jalen. All right, great. Um, Jalen's the person to talk to you about our website. Yes. And we do talk to her about the website. Yeah. All right. And if you need, you know, some past news, well, I'll ask her about that. Okay. Always happy to help. So if you want to CC me. Oh, thank you. And Jalen is always responsive to us. We're very grateful. So we can put this in news and announce it, or we'll put a reference to it to both of them, just link to the ones that are on the website. But I just do this one right now. I could do this one tonight. The other one, I don't know where it is. Well, you don't do it yourself anyway. You ask Abby. Yes, I know. I'll send an email to Abby. Yeah. Yeah. It will be in, maybe in the morning and do it. Maybe Abby can find the previous one and put them both on. Put them both. She should be able to find it. Ask her to put them both on under our news and announcements to link to the town's news and announcement. Okay. I don't have any information about the other one. The other one was done a couple months ago as Asimov did. I don't have any information. Okay. Um, all right, we'll figure it out. Uh, okay. Any other announcements? Yeah, I mean, who's that? Uh, no other announcements. Okay. I mean, I have a question. I don't know if it's an announcement. Well, I have a couple of things to say. You know, we were talking about resources and crisis response. I had a call, um, with Donna Paretsky. She's the director of the development at the human, she's director of development at the human relations services, which is a community mental health clinic that services Wayland. Um, and she seemed to be really open and available to participating, engaging and, you know, being part of a response team. Um, she, you know, was talking about all the horrific things that have happened for example in Wellesley that, that they were a part of. So it's just a new resource that I didn't really know of. Um, and it seems like it would be free to have her come and be a part of something for us. So I just kind of wanted to bring that to your attention. Thank you so much. Um, I don't know if that's something that we've ever partnered with, partnered with, but that is a great announcement because they are contracted with the town. Um, thank you for the advocates or human relations service, human relations service. Thank you. I I'll follow up with, with you, Sarah, on that. If you'd like. Yeah, of course. Um, and then my other question was, do we, and unfortunately, I wasn't able to attend, but do we send out, um, like surveys following our events to ask for questions or feedback from participants? Cause I've heard some mixed feedback. Okay. Okay. And how has the feedback been? We, so everyone who attended conversations, not confrontations was sent the survey and I'm, I'm planning to send it out one last time. Um, but now conversations for change at the library. That one, we, the library has the list of attendees. We don't have it, but they're working on a survey, but it's now already a few weeks out. So I don't know what response they'll get, but they they're working on it, but I don't have, they, they don't share the list of attendees. So that one, I can't, um, do anything about except encourage them to send out a survey. And I, yes, I know we partner with, um, you know, a couple of people that have run these events for us, but how do we go about partnering with additional, I would love for future events. Yeah. I'd love to, uh, have you talk with me about what you would like us to put on the agenda for discussion. You, you just so everyone knows, especially maybe newer people, like always feel free to reach out with agenda items. Like, uh, I do my best to be responsive to what I know is going on and what's on people's minds. But if I don't know, I won't put it on the agenda. So always feel free to ask me to put something on the agenda. Yeah. Yeah. Um, uh, if we're, uh, actually, um, it's nice that, I mean, that brings up a thought that maybe it's time for us to actually ask, put something in the book, Wayland Coast that says, you know, um, we are available to work with organized, you know, um, organizations of people have an idea that would be, you know, uh, and work with the human rights, diversity, equity, and inclusion so that we, you know, people would bring ideas that they might have. Um, so, uh, we haven't asked people. That's not an announcement, Marianne. So what do you, would you like me to put that on the agenda? Okay. That's fine. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. I think, um, yeah, because we should, that is, that is very inclusive to ask people in the community if sure what they'd like to see something in. Okay. Well, some people know, feel like, or they may know us, but they don't, they haven't been invited to ask or to tell us. Sure. Sure. Okay. I'll put that on the agenda for next time. The last time I asked the Wayland Post to write an article, they said, would you do it? So yeah, to be prepared for that. Yeah. All right. So, okay. Also, it's not really an announcement, but, um, it is possible to put an insert in the Wayland Post, you know, to add a, to add a flyer. You have to pay for it. I saw that. But that, um, is something that we also might want to consider, you know, uh, at some point, there may be a reason that we want to contribute something. It's a great push mechanism to reach, you know, all households. But so is getting an article in the Wayland Post. And it's free. Uh, okay. So thank you for all the announcements. Any other? Um, oh, we got one more. It's not an announcement. It goes under the, um, the topic's not anticipated, in, you know, anticipated by the chair in 48 hours. But have you heard anything from, um,
the, uh, Wayland, the history? Because I know it was, I know it was brought up a couple of months ago, the history of diabetes. The sports thing? Yes. Well, you were going to connect with Scarlett. I, I did connect with her when we did, when we did the meeting, but I haven't heard anything since. So I encourage you to reach out and ask her what's going on. Okay. Yeah. Because I know she is, I know she's busy and I know she is. It's okay. But she's back now. Yeah, she can, she can respond to, to your email or your call. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. All right. So that's at the Wayland Museum? And Historical Society. Okay. Yes. Yeah. You know what days she's in there? No. No, I don't. But I can give you her email address if you need it. Yeah. All right. Thank you, everybody. Um, so I guess we're ready to adjourn a little bit early. That's always good news. Sorry. Um, would somebody like to make a motion to adjourn? To adjourn. Okay. Okay. Well, someone second? Second. Okay. Kevin seconded. Denise moved. Kevin seconded to adjourn. Kevin? Yes. Marianne? Yes. Denise? Yes. Jenna? Yes. Um, Maya? Yes. Sarah? Sarah, can you hear us? She looks like she's thinking about it. Okay. I'm going to come back to Sarah. Heather? Yes. Sophie? Yes. Yes. Yau? Yes. Asma? Yes. You're here. Good. Uh, and Sarah, can you hear us?
All right. Sarah is frozen. Sarah, Sarah won't hear me. Oh, you are there. Okay. I was going to say, Sarah, you get the Hero Award for joining us from the most varied places, and we really appreciate you making it work when you're not in a place where it's easy to Zoom. Thank you. Thank you. Yeah. Yeah. And, um, Asma and Maya, best, best wishes. Sending you big hugs. Thank you so much. Thank you. Good night, everybody. Thank you. Thank you.