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Human Rights Commission Minutes October 16, 2013 — Draft Minutes Page 7 of 10 271 Director Vang also said that one of his organization's main challenges was to educate the 272 broader Roseville community on who the Karen community is. Now more Karen are moving to 273 Roseville and Maplewood, and such conversations were needed sooner than later. 274 275 Chair Grefenberg mentioned that there had been some conversations with the Mayor and City 276 Council members indicating they were eager to meet with the Karen Community. He referred to 277 Item # 10 on the Next Steps checklist, and said this was certainly an area where the Commission 278 could be of some help. 279 280 Ne Grefenber thanked Mr. Vang for his comments. He stated the Commission was hoping to 281 reinitiate a conversation between the school district and members of the Karen community. 282 He noted Commissioner Thao, a Roseville School Board member, had indicated her willingness 283 to assist in this endeavor. This conversation would assist in bringing other issues to the surface 284 for students in Roseville. He encouraged the youth commissioners to participate in this eveTIL 285 conversation. 286 287 Ne Chair Grefenber then raised the HRC- proposed Culture Fest that would be held in 288 conjunction with Rosefest (Item # 4 on the Next Steps document, a Roseville civic celebration. 289 He suggested that this may be a way for the Karen Community to make its presence known in 290 the broader community. Grefenberg encouraged the Youth Commissioners to meet with their 291 fellow Karen students. 292 293 Youth Commissioner Sara Thomas indicated that she had recently seen at the high school a flyer 294 for a Karen student group. 295 296 Further discussion ensued regarding the a recent misunderstanding resulting from a melee 297 p1--- at the Roseville middle school and previously at e high school level for the Karen 298 community. A fight at the Fairview Community Center -was also mentioned. 299 300 Mr. Vang indicated that `peacemaking circles' were helping these groups come together. He 301 hoped to see the school district become more proactive in addressing such issues going forward. 302 He explained that the diverse ethnicities in Roseville need to be educated about each other in 303 order to bring the communities together. He thought the proposed Culture Fest would be a great 304 event to assist in integrating minorities in Roseville. He mentioned a play that was put 305 on by the Rosetown Theater. 306 307 Chair Grefenberg feeemm °N.' ° �suggested that such a play could be incorporated into the 308 Culture Fest. He encouraged Mr. Vang to be in touch with the Commission if there are ways the 309 HRC could be of assistance. He thanked Mr. Vang on behalf of the entire Commission for his 310 time this evening. 311 312 Proposal to Host a Naturalization Ceremony for New Immigrants 313 314 Chair Grefenberg stated the Commission shad indicated at its last meeting an- interested in 315 hosting a Naturalization Ceremony for new immi rg ants