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Joint School Board No. 623/City Council Work Session Monday,June 26,2012 Page 2 Community Engagement Chair Gogins introduced this area, noting her interest specifically in under-represented portions of the community. Options identified to move forward a. Adopt locations/areas for meetings to develop relationships School Board Member Langston expressed her interest in getting a more diverse group engaged in the community; perhaps during the summer months, rather than during the school year. Some ideas of Member Langston included "Back to School Nights' in- volving City personnel to provide opportunities for more exposure to local government; however, she noted this also created an issue in needing transportation options for many families wishing to attend but not having access. Ms. Langston noted that not all fami- lies attend these evenings; but it would provide one opportunity to address immigrant or non-immigrant families still having a fear of law enforcement personnel. School Board Member Langston suggested another example she'd observed in another suburb to "adopt-a-multi-family building or area of the city" and to focus meetings at those locations in a specific building to build relationships. Ms. Langston stated that they had found to be successful elsewhere in engaging new immigrants, and building stronger relationships; as well as getting others in the community involved in building those relationships. Chair Gogins suggested that the City and School Board could jointly host such meet- ings. Mayor Roe noted that both the School District and City could collaboratively identify which buildings made the most sense to hold such gatherings for outreach (e.g. those having more frequent code enforcement and/or police department calls). Even if the events were not joint activities, Mayor Roe opined that the message of the City and School Board were similar, in getting more community residents engaged and familiar with local leaders. Councilmember Willmus noted that this would engage those emergency service per- sonnel with those groups with whom they may not typically associate on a daily basis outside of emergency situations. Chair Gogins noted the appreciation expressed by parents to the Fire Department for their presentation at School Readiness events; and opined that similar events could be held formally and/or informally. At the request of Councilmember Pust, Dr. Thein noted the continued presence of the City's Fire and Police Departments at Kindergarten Orientation Nights; usually with an emergency vehicle present and/or CPR demonstrations.