Administrative BriefCOMMISSION INFORMATION MEMORANDUM
VOL. 31 NO. 26 August 20, 2009
ADMINISTRATIVE BRIEF FROM GINA MCDONALD
The Human Relations Department has been re viewing programs. We have developed a
strategic plan for our department for the next year. One of the major initiatives is to do cross
training with our staff, so we can cover for each other. In a small office, it is important to carry
on the work if one person is gone.
We renovated our lobby so it meets accessibility for people using wheelchairs.
We wrote a collaborative grant proposal to the department of justice to provide training for
employers and employees regarding legal immigration workers and the rights and
responsibilities of employers and employees. We worked together with K-State Salina,
Catholic Charities and the Chamber of Commerce. We are waiting to hear about the results.
Even if we do not receive the grant, which is highly competitive, we have established a good
collaborative to begin this important work.
We held our Fair Housing Seminar for property owners and renters in April. We had over 80
people attend and received a 96% approval rating on our evaluations.
Two staff attended the fair housing training academy in Washington D.C. as is required by our
contract with HUD.
The monthly e-newsletter for the department has been very successful. We have over 100
people signed up for our mailing list. We are also beginning to load our past newsletters and
all public forms on our website so the public has access without coming to the office, and to
reduce copying expenses.
We provided orientation training for the Human Relations Commissioners. We are planning to
complete a strategic plan with the Commission during the next few months.
We are working with a regional transportati on group sponsored by Kansas Department of
Transportation to consider consolidation of transportation activities for North Central Kansas.
The Department of Housing and Urban Development came to Salina do to review of our Fair
Housing programs. They were very impressed with the outreach we do with the community.
We are working with adult education and Sali na Access TV to produce an “English as a
second Language” (ESL) program on Access TV. This program will also have regular
informational pieces on life skills such as how to open a bank account. Many people have
expressed a desire for English classes, but have great difficulty finding childcare. This is an
experiment to see if people will use this medium.
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We have been very active working with the community. We have provided 20 trainings to
various groups in the State. We had 318 calls and inquiries regarding housing, employment,
public accommodations and other issues. We have had 22 Fair Housing cases, 3
employment cases and one public accommodations case in Federal Fiscal year 2009.
We have recently begun writing monthly columns for the Buyers Guide and for La Voz, the
Spanish newspaper, on various topics around diversity and the activities of our department.
Americans with Disabilities Act activities – We are working on a new video commemorating
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the 20 anniversary of the ADA in 2010. The Access Board will begin the 2009 review of the
City’s Transition Plan. We continue to get calls regarding accessibility in both City programs
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and community programs. We also participated in the 19 Anniversary of the passage of the
ADA. The program, sponsored by Independent Connection and OCCK, took place at Robert
Caldwell Plaza with over 200 participants.
We had a booth at the Back to School Fair and provided information in English and Spanish to
about 2,000 participants at that event.
Human Relations Department worked with the Public Works Department to complete a review
by the Kansas Department of Transportation (K-DOT) Civil Rights Division, regarding our
affirmative action, ADA, Title VI and other ci vil rights protections. We had a very positive
discussion with KDOT.
The Human Relations Director, along with three other city employees, have been selected to
participate in Leadership Salina.
We participated with OCCK and the NAACP at the Teen Summit on August 8, 2009. Over
150 young people participated. Three of our Human Relations Commissioners and I provided
training on Diversity.
MONDAY'S MEETING
Enclosed are other items on the agenda. If any Commissioner has questions or cannot
attend the meeting, please contact me.
Jason A. Gage
City Manager