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Annual Report - 2000 '/ ." . / The' 'SALINA HUMAN RELATIONS DEPARTMENT ;1 . ~ ' 2000 Annu:al Report 'January 2,001 2000 ANNUAL HUMAN RELATIONS REPORT EXECUTIVE SUMMARY THIS REPORT ADDRESSES THE VISION AND MISSION OF THE SALINA HUMAN RELATIONS . I COMMISSION AND HOW THE ACCOMPLISHMENTS FOR THE YEAR 2000 REFLECT THAT MISSION. THE COMMISSION'S ACCOMPLISHMENTS ARE ENUMERATED BELOW AND SPELLED OUT IN MORE DETAIL IN THE ATTACHED REPORT: 1. INVOLVING YOUTH 2. COMPLETION OF THE HUMAN RIGHTSVIOLATION RESPONSE MANUAL 3. COLLABORATION WITH OTHER CITY DEPARTMENTS 4. INCREASED OUTREACH IN UNDER-SERVED COMMUNITY 5. GAINING WIDESPREAD COMMITMENT 6. RAPID RESOLVE PROCESS. THE COMMISSION'S "ALMOST MISSION STATEMENT"EXPRESSED IN THE 1998 GOAL SETTING MEETING WITH BOB SAUNDERS REFLECTS THE DESIRE TO EVENTUALLY HAVE A COMMUNITY THAT DOES NOT NEED THE ENFORCEMENT OF THE HUMAN RELATIONS ORDINANCE. ALTHOUGH, MOST COMMISSIONERS DID NOT TAKE THAT SUGGESTION SERIOUSLY, ALLAGREED THAT IT COULD SERVE AS A VISION. THEREFORE, THE ST.....!="!=" H.....S BEEN WORKING ON IDEAS THAT WE HOPE WILL HELP BUILD COLLABORATIVE RELATIONSHIPS IN THE COMMUNITY AND CREATE A SHARED VISION BY ALL WHO RESIDE HERE. FIRST, THE COMMISSION MUST ELEVATE ITSELF AS . AN ORGANIZATION TO REPLACE OLD BEHAVIORS AND RESTRICTIONS AND LOOK TO NEW VALUES WHICH I BELIEVE WIL:L MOTIVATE THEM TO CHOOSE TO ADOPT NEW ATTITUDES, BELIEFS AND BEHAVIORS. SECONDLY, THIS ELEVATION IN STATURE SHOULD CREATE AN ENVIRONMENT OF COOPERATION WITH THE FEELING OF TEAM BUILDING, GROUP VISION AND CON$ENSUSFOR WIDESPREAD COMMITMENT TO CHANGE. IN THE INTERVAL, THE COMMISSION MUST PURSUE ITS RESPONSIBILITIES AS A NEUTRAL FACT FINDING AGENCY AND NOT AS AN ADVOCATE FOR THOSE WHO HAVE FILED CHARGES. To DO SO, WE MlJST KEEP OUR INVESTIGATORS, AND COMMISSIONERS TRAINED SO THAT THEY MAY FAIRLY ANALYZE THE EVIDENCE PRESENTED AND MAKE RECOMMENDATIONS. I PRESENT THIS REPORT IN THE HOf'ETHA T OUR COMMUNITY ACTIVITIES, WHICH HAVE THIS YEAR, FOR THE FIRST TIME, INCLUDED EXPA",DED OUTREACH INVOLVING OTHER MEMBERS OF THE COMMUNITY MEETING WITH OUR COMMISSION AT LEAST TWICE PER YEAR,INCREASED UTILIZATION OFTHE RAPID RESPONSE PROCESS, AND INVOLVING MORE YOUTH IN MORE EDUCATIONAL ENDEAVORS, WILL GAIN WIDESPREAD COMMITMENT FOR A COMMUNITY THAT ONE DAY WILL BE CHARACTERIZED AS "ONE". , ~ SALINA HUMAN RELATIONS DEPARTMENTAND COMMISSI()N Mission Statement The mission of the Salina Human Relations Commission is to eliminate discrimination and to establish equality and justice for all persons within the City of Salina through Civil Rights enforcement, advocacy and education. .. 2000 Annual Human Relations Report The power and duties of the Commission are to eliminate discrimination by: (1) processing civil rights complaints in the most efficient and effective manner possible, (2) educating the public through workshops, cons.ultations and publications, (3) . assisting city management in the encouragement of other departments in the City's general internal affirmative action program (4) maintaining external AffirmativeAction program with companies who do business with.the City, (5) advocating and encouraging harmony among the various races and ethnic groups in Saline.l Vision'forHuman Relations Creating a shared vision with the ethnic community is a long and arduous. task. It is not so much in what is accomplished d.aily but in what is achieved over the long run. Traditionally, the Human Relations:'process seems to take one step forward and two back. In the view of the writer of this report, a vision of Human Relations is the challenge of achieving a community-wide shared vision of what Human Relations means. . In Visionary Leadership, Nanus (1 992) explained that the only way to gain widespread commitment is to actively engage people in the enterprise and to discuss a vision in terms that address each individual's legitimate concerns, needs and issues. , , , To assist the staff in setting goals at the beginning of each new year, we reflect back on that same 1998 goal setting meeting. One of the Commission's "sense of disappoint- ments" which also came out during the 1 998 meeting was that the Commission had not been successful in developing constituencies, especially in youth groups or in the '. various schools. A long term goal, reverting back approximately 6-8 years has been to develop a Student Human Relations Commission, or some other way.to involve the youth of the community with the goals of the commission. 2000 Accomplishments 1. Involving More Youth ,;, . Because of difficulty in getting a program approved by the schools for introduction into the schools, the Mayor's Initiative on Racism was the needed avenue to assist the Human Relations Commission in developing and implementing a program to begin a long-standing curriculum in the schools that we believe is needed to begin a change in attitudes. The Initiative on Racism, although a one-shot enterpris~, will continue to be. improved upon by more and more involvement by both elementary and secondary youth. The Human Relations Commission is particularly proud of this accomplishment during the year 2000, because it satisfies somewhat that "sense of disappointment" expressed during the 1998 goal setting meeting. (See Executive Summary) 2. Completion of the Human Rights Violation Manual (hate crimes) After two years of work by the Human Relations Commission on a Hate Crimes manual, it was finally completed. This was a culmination of many committee meetings and input from various sources in the community. The commission completed this project at the very end of 2000 and presented it in 3-ring notebook form to a group of community leaders at a meeting after the first of the 2001 year. Police Chief Jim Hill commented that he "wished there had been a manual to tell he and the NAACP President what to do" when the KKK previously planned to come to Salina. With the manual in its present form, it can be easily revised, which the commission has agreed to do at least yearly. So, this completion is a great accomplishment by the commission and contains a calling tree for both potential Bias incidents and Hate Crimes. 3. Collaboration with Other City Departments Staff has made new attempts to collaborate with other city departments. The Human Relations Commission connected with (1) The Arts and Humanities Commission in two efforts during 2000; (a) One successful collaboration was the Women's History Month Luncheon. The Salina Museum erected a display of successful Salina women at the Luncheon in March. (b) Secondly, The Human Relations Commission and the Arts and Humanities Commission collaborated on the Martin Luther King Day activities. (2) Neighborhood Services - Discussion has been held and plans are being made for collaborating with Neighborhood Services to hold a housing seminar during the 2001 year. (3) Building Services ~ The Human Relations Department has assisted the Building Services Department in identifying issues involving Minimum Housing Code violations and ideas to strengthen various aspects of that code. 2 4. Increased Outreach in Under-Served Community . Because of additional staff and with an added emphasis on language barrier problems, the department has been able to reach more of the underserved community during the year 2000. (See Attached List of Events). The Human Relations Department was able: (1) To get bilingual materials into the hands of s()me parents of immigrants to help with overcoming cultural barrier issues; (2) Assist VISTA volunteers to help with assimilation of new immigrant families; (3) Assisted Heartland Healthy Families with referrals and assisted their case workers through our Rapid Response Method, especially in those issues relating to evictions. All of this enhanced effort and accomplishments reflect the Salina Human Relations' mission of education and outreach. 5. Gaining Widespread Commitment To gain widespread commitment as Nanus (1992) suggested, the Human Relations Commission implemented a program in 2000 wherein the Commission invited several leaders in the Ethnic Community to sit with the Commission for discussion on VNO occasions: August 15th, 2000 and November 14,2000. There was excellent information sharing on these two occasions. We believe that applying strategies that allow citizens to participate in decision-making processes and providing the resources and support will greatly assist in developing opportunities that build collaborative relationships and assist the commission in meeting their mission as well as their vision. 6. Greater Usage of Rapid Resolve Process We feel we accomplished several issues with our Rapid Resolve Process. (See Attachment #3). One is that we have reduced the filing of employment complaints (See. Attachment #1). Two, we also have met with more employers while implementing our Rapid Response Process. This accomplishment helps meet one of our overall goals which is advocating and encouraging harmony among citizens in our community. The basis under which housing complaints were filed in 1999 as compared to 2000 (see Attachment #2) reflected very little change. Namus, B. (1992). Visionary Leadership, Jossey-Bass Inc., Publishers, San Francisco, CA. 3 SALINA HUMAN RELATIONS DEPARTMENT Publications & Events 2000 Publications for 2000 · Multi-Cultural Calendar · Tenant Screening for Fair Housing Booklet · . Agency newsletters for first, second & fourth quarters · Developed video for Ethnic Festival Advertising · Developed video for Fair Housing outreach Events · Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration (NAACP, and MLK Ad Hoc Committee) · Women's History Month Luncheon (League of Women Voters, Salina Arts & Humanities Department, and the Salina YWCA) · Black History Month Exhibit (Senior Citizen Minority Outreach Taskforce) · State Hispanic Convention (LULAC) · Santa Fe Days Parade (NAACP, LULAC) · Week Without Violence (YWCA) · Lunch & Learn Presentation "Human Rights Violations & Hate Crimes" (League of Women Voters) on August 15, 2000 . . · Mayor's Poster and Essay Contest (Salina Mayor's Office & school personnel) · Assisted U.S. Department of HUD with Training Conference November 28 through December 2,2000 (RECCR). Other activities the department has been involved with in 2000 . Employment Seminar with the. Salina Chamber of Commerce, March 24, 2000 Fair Housing Month Proclamation, April 2000. Ethnic Festival, May 6, 2000 Kansas Centers for Independent Living, Landlordffenant and Fair Housing Seminar on August 8, 2000 Presentation to Mid-State Advocacy Group/OCCK, Inc. on Landlordffenant Law, July 13, 2000 Proclamation for "Hispanic Heritage Month, September, 2000. Proclamationfor "Undoing Racism Day" on September 11,2000. Fair Housing Seminar "Rental Housing in Kansas" with Topeka Housing and Credit Counseling, on Octobe~ 18, 2000 . . . . . . . . Community groups that the department partnered with are in parenthesis. ". -r-" EMPLOYMENT COMPLAINTS FILED BY' BASIS (COMPARING 1999 TO 2000) 1999 Employment Complaints -8 Total -";liijJ ~h~ Race ~.~~~ Sex ""':__L..:,:.... ..,.o;,CU"1I I I.y Nat'l Origin 2': 4 6 8 EMPLOYMENT COMPLAINTS CLOSURE (COMPARING 1999 TO 2000) 1999 Employment Complaints - 8 Tota! Conciliated NPC Administrative ReferredlWithdrawn 2'.. . . 4 6 8 ATTACHMENT #1 . '.,. . . HOUSING COMPLAINTS FILEQ BY BASIS (COMPARING 1999102000) : '1999'H .. .... "'1 ,t.. "C'" ""1" i' ,'. ""('''1''''3' 'T" . ..... '1' ....>/l",,<.s,::o.;~~i.;.,:.?::;.E':.;.:'.,....,:.:\.;.f.{,.;:;::,>:. .'c' "...""",:.' oua n omp a nts .... . " 018 ""'J";.'J""""w..,~...."",.""..,.,i"Vi':"':.'c'"..cc:',..... 'c~ ',';,',~I ,,<: ,- , ,,;, :::~':, ,':'._ .,~.::~:.~;;:t;-;::~::'-'...~;'::-~::-'_~,..~~~-;;~,~.;;-.c.:;:',~l~'_'.>:';7f ~,:',~'::::i;.:- "~:::~:~:,~'~:':-~::', '. , . ',' .' Family Status Nat'l Origin I I 2 4 6 8 1 0 1 2 1 4 HOUSING COMPLAINTS CLOSURE (COMPARING 1999 TO 2000) .1999 Housirig'ComplaintS~13 Total 2 4 6 8 1 0 1 2 1 4 ATTACHMENT #2 RAPID RESPQNSE FOR 2000 April EmpJoYiT'.vrn Housing Public Accom Mav Employment Housing Public Accom June Employment Housln '-;.>...<r:'fO,:. 'J ;,;> ,:, ."'- ,:.~....~":4-.. ."'", ;~.::. ,-.: '...~":. Julv A IT ACHMENT #3 . 22 2.4 26