Versión en español a continuación. Asian American Quality of Life Advisory Commission March 16, 2021 Asian American Quality of Life Advisory Commission to be held March 16, 2021 with Social Distancing Modifications Public comment will be allowed via telephone; no in-person input will be allowed. All speakers must register in advance (March 15, 2021 by noon). All public comment will occur at the beginning of the meeting. To speak remotely at the March 16, 2021 Asian American Quality of Life Advisory Commission Meeting, members of the public must: •Call or email the board liaison at Joshua Robinson at 512-974-9006 later than noon, (March 15, 2021). The following information is required: speaker name, item number(s) they wish to speak on, whether they are for/against/neutral, email address and telephone number (must be the same number that will be used to call into the meeting). •Once a request to speak has been made to the board liaison, the information to call on the day of the scheduled meeting will be provided either by email or phone call. •Speakers must call in at least 15 minutes prior to meeting start time in order to speak, late callers will not be accepted and will not be able to speak. •Speakers will be placed in a queue until their time to speak. •Handouts or other information may be emailed to joshua.robinson@austintexas.gov by noon the day before the scheduled meeting. This information will be provided to Board and Commission members in advance of the meeting. •If the meeting is broadcast live, it may be viewed here: http://www.austintexas.gov/page/watch-atxn-live Reunión del Asian American Quality of Life Advisory Commission FECHA de la reunion (March 16, 2021) La junta se llevará con modificaciones de distanciamiento social Se permitirán comentarios públicos por teléfono; no se permitirá ninguna entrada en persona. Todos los oradores deben registrarse con anticipación (March 15, 2021 antes del mediodía). Todos los comentarios públicos se producirán al comienzo de la reunión. Para hablar de forma remota en la reunión, los miembros del público deben: • Llame o envíe un correo electrónico al enlace de la junta en Joshua Robinson at 512-974-9006 a más tardar al mediodía (el día antes de la reunión). Se requiere la siguiente información: nombre del orador, número (s) de artículo sobre el que desean hablar, si están a favor / en contra / neutral, dirección de correo electrónico (opcional) y un número de teléfono (debe …
AARC Workgroup meeting for the AAQoL Tuesday, February 9, 12:00-1:00pm 1. AARC Phase ll Project: In attendance: Sona Shah, Kirk Yoshida, Debasree DasGupta, Vince Cobalis, Shruti Anand, Laura Esparza, Jimmy Flannigan, Thuy Nguyen Sona shared the following timeline provided by Christina from the PARD. “On January 28, 2021, City Council approved utilization of the Construction Manager at Risk (CMAR) methodology for construction of the AARC Performing Arts Center. Following this approval, the solicitation for Request for Qualification (RFQ) for Professional Design Services (Architectural and Engineering Services) was posted on Austin Finance Online on February 3, 2021. The Pre-Response meeting is scheduled for February 10, 2021. Solicitation responses are due March 17, 2021. An evaluation period will follow shortly thereafter with the top scoring firm to be presented to City Council on June 10, 2021 to obtain approval to negotiate a contract. Contract execution for A/E Design services is scheduled for August 2021. The solicitation for CMAR services is scheduled to be posted on March 1, 2021 with an April 12, 2021 due date. The CMR solicitation is targeted for award by Council in July 2021 and executed after negotiation in October 2021. The original assigned Public Works Department Project Manager, Riley Triggs, is now a Project Management Supervisor within the same division. The AARC PAC has been assigned to David Nicks, Project Manager. Riley will continue to oversee David and the progress of the project. PARD’s Communication Engagement Unit, along with Sona Shah and Project Coordinator Christina Bies, have started the initial planning and outline for Community Engagement for the project. A draft outline of the plan is anticipated in April 2021.” Discussion on the above…. Laura responded to the question regarding restrictions on the RFQ request. It can be discussed until March 1st when the solicitation for CMAR will be posted. Discussion on letting the community know as Asian construction firms might have interest. Vince asked if the timeline could be shared with NAAO/GAAACC etc. (Vince and Laura have since exchanged e-mails and Laura has confirmed that we do have permission to share the timeline). These might have to be done virtually until COVID restrictions have been lifted. PARD has had several virtual community engagement sessions fairly successfully, with 10% of invitees attending and engaging in much discussion. Community engagement department is somewhat overtaxed as there is only one employee. Sona has been meeting with PARD regarding proceeding with …
2021-02-23 AAQoL Community Engagement & Health Workgroup Meeting Notes Attendees: , Hanna Huang, Molly Wang, Shubhada Saxena, Vince Cobalis , Kirk Yoshida (joined for first part), Phil Hoang (Vietnamese) Busy:, Pooja Sethi, Discussion & to-dos: Language Access discussion: Hanna: Houmma will be presenting Language Access Plan at a Commission meeting. This is what departments use for their regular jobs. We have sone an RFQ for translators but not yet for interpreters. PIO staff may need help understanding Chinese where some of them are only spoken and not written. Most departments put out information only in English. English, Spanish, Vietnamese, and Chinese translations were used by Austin Water for the boil notice and only seen in Social Media – FB Live may not have been watchable. CO2 poisoning in Arabic, Vietnamese, Chinese and one other Asian language. Hanna was able to seek out translators and get CM Casar’s newsletter translated. Their office has an Asian American staff member Trinh – who helped. Daniela Rojas helped manage response for ADRN – Austin Disaster Relief Network - She was not familiar with how to do this work. Community fundraising covered the cost of emergency translations done by AACHI. Future process should include city funding the translations. Vince: Volunteers have been used for translations. Departments need to become aware of the availability of paid translators and ensure regular use. How this is activated during emergencies, may be something we need to speak to Rey Arellano. Kirk: Most city employees lost power and did not have access to work themselves. Shubhada: Volunteers have stepped up using the ADRN form. Our commission can help with managing volunteers. Esther Diaz used interpreting volunteers. Here are three ways we can ask them to help: 1) Available as needed for the next 3-4 weeks for communication of snowstorm response to community - e.g. distribution of items & locations going on right now. Would like for them to speak out the words of the language to record voice messages - like it is done in Spanish where you press 8 for continuing in Spanish. Shubhada, Hanna has a process that can be used Many people may not be in a place to read email communications or know how Voice file can be included with the messaging. I would like to test recordings of the email content we translated among other messages. – PSAs?? – partnership with KUT Shubhada 2) Available …
‘Arts and Culture’ workgroup report -Feb 2021 Attendee: (a) Pramod Patil (Chair) (b) Shubhada Saxena (c) Hanna Huang (d) Peter Chao Date: 02/14/2021 Meeting minutes: Here are the notes from Arts and Culture workgroup meeting in Feb-2021. This meeting was mainly focused on capturing progress on focus area for each member. • Grant data We discussed about different city of Austin grant opportunities and ways to bring awareness of these opportunities. We decided to create a list of such resources and find ways to share it with the community. As a starting point these grant opportunities are stored in the following google link https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1j58OrJyvrAf7D-Ak-cv- HQK6vbIIiC4lKOglAkIzngw/edit?usp=sharing This resource list will be a living document and members of the Arts and Culture workgroup will continue updating this doc. Hanna Huang and Shubhada Saxena to explore ways to share/communicate the Asian resource list with the community. • Display of Asian Exhibits We discussed about opportunities to showcase Asian arts, musical instrument and/or sculptures etc. at various Austin locations. Shubhada Saxena has approached PARD for this earlier. We also discussed on other avenues to achieve the same. Pramod Patil will be exploring other opportunities for Asian exhibit display by discussion with Ayesha Khan from Austin History Museum. • Peter Chao Peter Chao will not be serving on the Asian American Quality of Life Commission and also won’t be part of the Arts and Culture workgroup anymore.
Recommendation The Asian American Quality of Life Advisory Commission recommends that the “Equitable Chamber Funding Model” developed by the City Economic Development Department consider factors that do not disproportionately impact the Greater Austin Asian Chamber of Commerce (GAACC) Description of Recommendation to Council WHEREAS, the Asian American Quality of Life (AAQoL) Advisory Commission was created to advise the City Council on issues related to the Asian American Resource Center and provide on-going guidance and support for the City's Asian American Quality of Life Initiatives, and WHEREAS The City Economic Development Department is developing an “Equitable Chamber Funding Model” for funding MECA Chambers, and WHEREAS Asian Americans are the fastest growing population in Austin/Travis County, which should result in higher Race/Equity Factor portion of the funding model, and WHEREAS the funding model should include a “language factor” for which the GAACC should be credited for supporting over 20 Asian languages in their operations, and WHEREAS GAACC is instrumental in attracting international business investment and trade to Austin, and WHEREAS in recent years, GAACC has helped address increasing violence against Asian Americans and Asian American businesses, and WHEREAS many immigrants are first generation business owners in need of support from GAACC. Refugees may be more likely to open businesses instead of applying for jobs, due to qualification and language barriers, NOW, THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the Asian American Quality of Live Advisory Commission supports adjusting certain equity factors in the to the EDD “Equitable Chamber Funding Model” to include a “language factor” and more focus on support for businesses than on household income. BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Commission supports the direction proposed by Council Member Alter in her February 4, 2021 proposed amendment. BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Commission recommends limiting the disproportional fiscal impact to GAACC
FY 2022 Budget Recommendations The following budget recommendations will be considered through separate motions. Example language: “I would like to make a motion to approve the [recommendation title] (as amended) for submission to the Budget Office for consideration in the FY 2022 Budget.” Budget Recommendation #1 – AARC Master Plan Phase 2 Community Engagement Consultant for Design Phase Story: What did you hear from the community? As part of the master planning process for Phase 2 of the Asian American Resource Center (AARC), many community priorities were identified for the future buildout of the property. However, additional performing arts/theatre space ranked as the highest community need. The Commission heard directly from Asian American artists that finding performance space, especially for smaller audiences, has become increasingly difficult in Austin due to the closure of several spaces over the past several years. Additionally, the current ballroom was designed as general event space and does not have a stage or other infrastructure required for performances. Problem: What is the problem you identify? While there is community consensus regarding the need, the community has expressed a range of different needs regarding the function and use of the theatre space. Some representatives of the artist community have requested the space function as a black box theatre for versatility. Others in the community envision a more traditional theatre space with built‐in, sloped seating that might attract touring artists. These a just a few examples of the competing ideas for the space under consideration as the project moves from the planning phase into the design and construction phases. How does the problem show up in your community? Who is most impacted by the problem? The AARC is an integral space for Austin’s Asian American community, providing space for meetings, events, cultural arts exhibits and performances, educational activities, festivals, and more. The goal of the upcoming design phase would be to develop a second facility one the site that best serves the needs of the community from the artists to the patrons of the AARC. The reality, however, is that not all community needs can be fulfilled by any one facility, especially one with a limited overall project budget of ~$7 million. Given the fact that compromises will need to be made and consensus may be difficult to achieve, it is important that the community engagement phase be guided by an experienced and neutral party. Considering all of …
AARC Workgroup meeting for the AAQoL Tuesday, March 9, 12:00-1:00pm In attendance: Sona Shah, Kirk Yoshida, Debasree DasGupta, Vince Cobalis, , Laura Esparza, Jimmy Flannigan, Laura Esperza, Christina Bies, David Nicks, Schiller Liao 1. AARC Phase ll Project: The group was introduced to David Nicks who will be taking over Riley Trigg’s position as Public Works Department project manager. Solicitations for the professional design services and CMAR (Construction Manager at Risk ) services are due March 24th and April 19th, a bit later than originally decided. A topographic survey is being conducted. Discussion on the community engagement that is required: There are still some outstanding issues, such as the kind of flooring that is sought, so the community needs to provide input. Community engagement needs to start as soon as design team comes on board. An approximate fund of $61K will be needed and the discussion was around procuring this funding. A consultant would be needed and he would require some training on Asian culture and their needs. Goals need to be identified. The community needs to be made aware of cost of final structure and the what funds are available so they can provide input accordingly. CMAR could provide cost estimate. Vince suggested seeking help from CPIO or the equity office regarding funding. Jimmy suggested connecting with Suchi Gururaj who has been working on the Language Access Fund that has been launched by CAN (Community Advancement ?) Kirk suggested requesting for the required funding while also exploring other avenues, such as CPIO. (AAQoL has been working on adding language access to the budget for a while. Organisations like AACHI has applied for some funds for this as well). Updates on the Center from Sona : Other than a few leaks etc, the building has weathered the February winter storm fairly well. Jonathan, who has been working as the building grounds supervisor is now working with APH and API taskforce and will now become a Community Access Coordinator. Celebrasia is scheduled for May 1 and will be a virtual event. Since events in the past year have all been virtual, expenses on the facility have been lower. The surplus money is going to be used on enhancing the ballroom lighting, buying projectors etc. Vince asked if there could be money used for community outreach. Sona will look into it. A list of organisations that should be contacted for community outreach …
ASIAN AMERICAN QUALITY OF LIFE ADVISORY COMMISSION (AAQOLAC) REGULAR MEETING MINUTES OF TUESDAY, MARCH 16, 2021 The AAQOLAC convened in a regular meeting on Tuesday, March 16, 2021 Chair Yoshida called the Commission Meeting to order at 6:10 p.m. Commission Members in Attendance: Vince Cobalis, Sarah Chen, Kuo Yang, Kirk Yoshida, Hanna Huang, Pramod Patil, Shubhada Saxena, Pooja Sethi, Ketan Patel, Molly Wang, and Debasree DasGupta Staff in Attendance: Rey Arellano, Assistant City Manager Joshua Robinson, Interim Senior Executive Assistant (Office of the City Manager) Citizen Communication: N/A 1. APPROVAL OF MINUTES 2. OLD BUSINESS The Commission did not take action on the meeting minutes from January. a. Workgroup Reports: 1. Asian American Resource Center (AARC) Workgroup: Update provided in the backup document. materials. 2. Health and Community Engagement Workgroup: Update provided in the backup 3. Arts and Culture Workgroup: Update provided in the backup materials. 4. Human Resources Workgroup: No update provided. 5. Business Planning Workgroup: No update provided. b. Update on the Joint Inclusion Committee Meeting – The next JIC meeting will be held on Wednesday, March 31. c. Follow-up Items: 1. Update on the AARC Master Plan Update on the Fiscal Year (FY) 2022 Budget Recommendation Process 3. STAFF BRIEFING None this month. 4. NEW BUSINESS a. Discussion and possible action on equitable funding for the Greater Austin Asian Chamber of Commerce (Fang Fang) – No Action Taken. b. Discussion and possible action on priorities and recommendations for the City of Austin FY 2022 budget – Commissioners voted on their 2022 Budget Recommendations, which can be found in the back up materials. The Commissioners voted on the 2022 Budget Recommendations, which can be found in the backup materials. Commissioners vote can be found in the audio recording on the Asian American Quality of Life Advisory Commission webpage. c. Discussion and possible action on the selection of a Community Stakeholder Commissioner – No Action Taken. 5. INFORMATION SHARING a. Commissioner Saxena, Cobalis and Chen 6. FUTURE AGENDA 6. ADJOURN Chair Yoshida adjourned the meeting without any objections at 8:30 p.m.
