Approved Minutes — original pdf

Approved Minutes

COMMISSION ON IMMIGRANT AFFAIRS Monday, October 5, 2020 6:30 PM VIA VIDEOCONFERENCING  Meeting Minutes Montserrat Garibay Joseph Ramirez-Hernandez Rennison Lalgee Nicole Merritt Glen Rosales Banafsheh Madaninejad Kate Lincoln-Goldfinch     Board Members in Attendance: Karen Crawford, Chair Juan Vences-Benitez Adrian De La Rosa Board Members not in Attendance: Krystal Gomez, Vice Chair Sam Adair Staff in Attendance: Sinying Chan, Staff Liaison & Health Equity Unit Program Coordinator/APH Connie H. Gonzales, Staff Liaison & Health Equity Unit Program Coordinator/APH Estephanie Olivares, Health Equity Unit Supervisor/APH CALL TO ORDER at 6:40 pm 1. REVIEW AND APPROVAL OF MINUTES  No minutes available for review  Table to next month 2. NEW BUSINESS: DISCUSSION AND POSSIBLE ACTIONS: A. APD Office of Community Liaison presentation on their work – Sadot Azzua – Immigrant and Refugee Community Liaison; Mei Fung – Asian Liaison; and Veronica Saldate – Crime Prevention, NNO, and Seniors Liaison  Presentation on their work and what they have done amid COVID-19  4 regions and 9 liaisons with different focus such as immigrant and refugee, Asian, crime prevention, Black, and LGBTQ etc.  Main outreach tasks include safety fairs, town hall, community engagement meetings, and community presentations with presence of APD police officers  Funding for programs of the APD Community Liaison Office is not in city budget and is raised by fundraiser – asking for recommendations on how to apply grants and funding    Operation Blue Santa, for example, is one of the many signature and at-risk programs of the APD Community Liaison Office due to lack of fundraisers during COVID-19  Mike Sheffield, manager of APD Community Liaison Office, spoke about current situation of funding and would be the point person for further discussion B. Vote on meeting schedule for January 2021 – December 2021  Rennison moved to keep meeting on first Monday of each month at 6:30 pm  Adrian seconded  Discussed about the difficulty of room reservation and holidays/election on first Mondays of certain months  Rennison amended motion to second Monday  Adrian seconded  All in favor (8-0) 3. OLD BUSINESS A. Update on budget recommendations for FY21, information on next steps for FY22  Most of our budget items were not funded. Increase of 1.1 million to Austin Public Health (APH) for mental health services, family violence prevention and immigrant legal services  Next Joint Inclusion Committee budget retreat is tentatively moved to October 24th B. Equity Office updates:  Welcoming America: Welcoming Week o Variety events by Austin Refugee Round Table, Asian American Resource Center, Austin History Center, Austin Public Library, and Equity Office  New American Economy / Walmart Foundation grant o Grant is received from Walmart Foundation for a multicity research project for future disaster preparedness  Enhanced library cards o Will contain photo and can be used as ID o Continued discussion with library director and legal  Research with LBJ School o Report on baseline view of where Austin stands to establish an Office of Immigrant Affairs and become an official welcoming city  Work of Rocio Villalobos, the Immigrant Affairs officer in the Equity Office o Continues to work on COVID-19 response; in process of setting up newsletter o Free membership from Welcoming America Network for 2021 o Enrolled the City as part of the Cities for Citizenship Network; possible planning of virtual citizenship plan FUTURE AGENDA ITEMS  Brie L. Franco from Intergovernmental Relations Office – 87th State Legislative Agenda  2021 goals  ANNOUNCEMENT ADJOURNMENT  Connie Gonzales will no longer be the staff liaison  Sinying Chan would be the new staff liaison  Nicole moved to adjourn at 7:47 pm  Montserrat seconded  All in favor (8-0)   The City of Austin is committed to compliance with the American with Disabilities Act. Reasonable modifications and equal access to communications will be provided upon request. Meeting locations are planned with wheelchair access. If requiring Sign Language Interpreters or alternative formats, please give notice at least 2 days before the meeting date. Please contact Stephanie Hayden at the Austin Public Health at (512) 972-5017 or email: stephanie.hayden@austintexas.gov, for additional information. TTY users route through Relay Texas at 711.