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� � � �� 1� • �/� �� Community meetings aim to connect neighbors Submitted by admin on Tue, 04/23/2013 - 1:37pm By: Geor�e Fairbanks The Roseville Human Rights Commission, thanks to funding from the Bush Foundation and the Meadowlawk Institute, will host a community meeting on Tuesday, April 30, at 5:15 p.m. that will seek to engage community members on one key question: "What does it talce to create a safe and connected community?" There will be a second meeting on Tuesday, May 14. Both meetings will be held at the Roseville Skating Center, 2661 Civic Center Drive. Gary Grefenberg, a member of the city's Human Rights Commission, explained the vision is to hold both meetings in a fashion that fosters maximum dialogue. That dialogue would focus mainly around the idea of using community connectedness to prevent violence. Grefenberg said the Dec. 14, 2012 shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Conn., at least in part inspired the idea of the upcoming townhall meetings. "We're going to rely on the community to share their experiences," he noted. Grefenberg added last December, Roseville resident Megan Dushin, approached the commission with the idea far the community meetings. Stakeholders then realized they had just a handful of days to meet the deadline for the grant. "I was surprised we got the grant," Grefenberg said with a chuckle. The $2,500 grant will cover the cost of the professional facilitatar's as well refreshments. The grant speciiically requires the use of professional facilitators. For Grefenberg, the idea of violence in a community runs deeper than the kinds of tragedies that make national news. "There's domestic violence, cyber-bullying, school-yard bullying," he said. "We can't just sit silently and accept the position of being victims."