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Immigrant Rights Commission
Minutes of Meeting on July 8, 2002
The Immigrant Rights Commission (IRC) meeting was held on Monday, July 8, 2002 at San Francisco City Hall in Room 416, at 5:00 P.M.
I. Roll Call:
Members Present The meeting was called to order on 5:05 pm. Commissioners Huie, Gonzalez, Gusukuma, Haile, Nguyen, Nwadibia, Ow, Tran, and Zheng were present. Commissioner Lau arrived at 5:10pm. Commissioners Benjamin and Berumen were excused. Commissioner Tran left at 6:28pm, Commissioners Zheng and Ow left at 6:45pm
II. Approval of minutes for June 10, 2002:
Commissioner Haile moved to approve the minutes, with the following changes for public comment: “Mr. Lee states that he received a letter from the SF Housing Authority Section 8 program, but the letter was written in English.” Ms. Loi mentioned that the spelling of “Visitacion Valley” will be corrected in the minutes. Commissioner Haile moved to approve the amended minutes, & Commissioner Gusukuma seconded the motion. The minutes, as amended, were adopted unanimously.
IV. First San Francisco Immigrant Rights Summit
1. Introduction of Summit Coordinator Lucky Choi- Lucky Choi was introduced to the Commission. Mr. Choi has been involved in the community & has done various types of conferences. He has also participated in different roles in all types of conferences.
Commissioner Gonzalez briefed the Commission on the panel discussions for the Summit. The Summit will have ten panel discussions. Five panels will be held during the morning session and five in the afternoon. The issues covered by the morning panels will be: (1) Civil Rights, discrimination, hate crimes; (2) Naturalization, political asylum, refugee issues; (3) Language access; (4) Health, Aging, Veterans Issues/Access; and (5) Education, schools & training. The afternoon panels will cover the following issues: (6) Housing/shelter; (7) Jobs & employment; (8) Youth; (9) Civic engagement & political participation; and (10) Economic issues.
Commissioners are asked to be the moderator or the facilitator for each panel to facilitate the discussion.
Mr. Choi suggested issuing a press release regarding the Summit to encourage public participation in the Summit.
Commissioner Lau asked each Commissioner to take charge of and be responsible for various areas necessary for the organization of the Summit. Commissioner Ow volunteered the help out on monitoring the Proclamation, Security & Medical emergencies. Commissioner Zheng volunteered to help out with the advertisement of the Summit. Commissioner Huie volunteered to help out with nametags, registration & coordination of the information tables. Commissioner Tran volunteered to help out with recruiting volunteers. Mr. Pham told the Commissioners that the set up of the physical facilities such as room readiness, tables & rooms set up, hospitality room set up, catering, registration set up, and pack up & clean up would be handled by the convention center. Ms. Loi will take care of translation of materials and registration. Commissioner Gonzalez volunteers to take care of the creation of participant folders and registration. Commissioner Nguyen volunteered to help out with creation of t-shirts for the volunteers and organization of a volunteer appreciation party after the Summit. Commissioners Haile and Gusukuma volunteered to recruit and keep track of persons who have committed to be speakers at the Summit.
Commissioner Gonzalez asked the Commission to nominate 2 candidates to be the keynote speaker from the list that was provided to them. Commissioner Zheng nominated Mayor Brown & Congressman Honda. Commissioner Gonzalez nominated Congresswoman Pelosi & Secretary Mineta. Commissioner Tran nominated Congresswoman Pelosi & Congressman Honda. Commissioner Gusukuma was undecided. Commissioner Haile nominated Congresswoman Pelosi & Lin Chi Wong. Commissioner Lau nominated S.B. Woo & Congresswoman Pelosi. Commissioner Huie nominated Congresswoman Pelosi & Paul Igasaki. Commissioner Nwadibia nominated Congresswoman Pelosi & Mayor Brown. Commission Nguyen nominated John Nguyen & Mayor Brown. Commissioner Ow nominated Congresswoman Pelosi & Supervisor Ammiano.
2. Update on the SFF Grant for the Summit – The Grant proposal was sent to the San Francisco Foundation (SFF). However, when Commissioner Lau followed up on the proposal, the SFF indicated that they did not receive it. Commissioner Lau had another copy of the proposal hand delivered to them.
3. Summit meeting report- June 13th, there was a meeting with the Community Based Organizations (CBOs) to talk about the summit planning. Commissioner Lau asked if the CBO’s participate & sign up as panel speakers for the summit.
4. Awards Nomination Committee. Commissioner Lau asked for volunteers to participate in this Committee to nominate individuals who deserve to be recognized for their contributions to the cause of immigrant rights. She asked if Commissioner Huie would chair this committee & if the committee can provide some names on the August IRC meeting. Commissioner Haile & Nwadibia would sit on this committee to help out with names.
V. The Director’s Report
1. Equal Access to Services Ordinance - Mr. Pham has scheduled a meeting with the Tier 1 departments on Wednesday, July 10, 2002 to discuss updates of their compliance plans and respond to any questions they might have regarding the requirements of the EAS Ordinance. Violet Lee-Fong from the Office of Contract Administration will be setting up the bids for translation services for the City.
2. Summary of monthly Activities of Outside Meeting & Contacts - Mr. Pham met with Mr. Lam, Acting Director for Department of Aging & Adult Services, to discuss about the transfer of oversight of the State funding for Citizenship programs. The State of California of Economic & Development agency informed the City that they do not object to the transfer of the oversight function but asked for a delay in such transfer to the beginning of the next funding cycle. In the meantime, Mr. Pham will work closely with Department of Aging & Adult Services to acquaint himself with the oversight duties and to complete a memorandum of understanding to transfer the oversight responsibility.
VI. Pride Day Parade Report
Commissioner Zheng coordinated the Commission’s participation at the Pride Day Parade. He stated the parade went very well. However, because not enough people were present, the Commission’s participating did not went as planned. He asked Director Pham to write thank you letters to the following people who participated in the parade. Commissioner Huie suggested if the Commission was committed to participate in a public event, then the entire Commission should participate otherwise the Commission should not participated at all.
Next Agenda: Commissioner Ow asked that the Day Labor of San Francisco be put on the agenda as a discussion/action item. He asked that the City should provide programs to help the day labor to obtain work. Former Commission Chair Saucedo will attend August meeting to give more information about this item.
Commissioners Haile & Tran asked that representative from the Housing Authority be invited to the August meeting to discuss the issue regarding provision of translated materials.
Adjournment: The Commission meeting was adjourned at 6:45 p.m. due to the lost of quorum.