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Human Rights Commission Minutes October 16, 2013 Page 3 of 9 Ms. Lohman told the Commission that Advocates understood the rights of immigrants to mean that people can have their basic needs met and can participate in the civic and political life of the community, and feel safe in their neighborhoods and able to trust their local institutions. She emphasized that the Conversation model was meant to get a diverse range of community members and to start making public this process of how a community can become inclusive and welcoming. Ms. Lohman then discussed her group's template for organizing a Conversation; this document entitled Hosting a Community Conversation was included in the Commission's meeting packet. She emphasized this organizational outline could be easily adapted to meet local needs, but the heart of the program, she explained, was the small group discussions about what participants had experienced in their neighborhoods and communities. She added that it was important that the white mainstream community be included in order to determine whether less- than - welcoming experiences in neighborhoods was unique to new arrivals or simply a response that everyone struggled with. Lohman explained that that the Conversation model had often lead to future action resolving human rights issues and community - building efforts. She was encouraged that the Roseville HRC had a small budget which would be providing food and refreshments for the event. Chair Grefenberg thanked Ms. Lohman for her presentation. He said he initially favored this project because the Commission would be able to collaborate with AHR and take advantage of their assistance and experience with this issue and process. He added that this model fit well with the Commission's goals as presented to the Council last August, as well as the Council's own goals. Grefenberg added that he also favored this project because it seemed a low- energy program on the part of Commission members. Commission Groff asked Ms. Lohman who would take notes on the small group discussions. Her response was that Commission members would be responsible for taking notes, making sure the discussion was on track and that all participants had an opportunity to speak. In the best situation AHR interns would take notes but their availability in the fall was limited. Lohman encouraged the Commission to heavily advertise the event to draw a diverse group of immigrants from the community. Discussion of program implementation in Roseville: Vice Chair Brisbois stated she was pleased with the conversation at the Falcon Heights community dialogue and was especially pleased with the stature of the Falcon Heights residents who were present, such as the police chief and council members. She expressed some confusion on the Falcon Heights Conversation since she thought that program was conducted for study purposes. Ms. Lohman explained that information gathered from the Falcon Heights event would possibly be used in a report by AHR and the report was due in January of 2014.