July 15, 2025 — Human Relations Commission Regular Meeting

Transcript

Manually captioned by City of Boulder staff. All segments attributed to uploader — not individual speaker labels. [MM:SS] timestamps correspond to the YouTube recording.

[0:09] Alright, and we are live. This is the Tuesday, July 15, th Hrc. Meeting and just as a reminder for everyone, we have an interpretation service, so you can listen and participate to this meeting in English or Spanish. If you move your mouse, you should see the menu on your screen the bottom of your screen. And you'll see a globe that says interpretation. You can click on the globe, and you'll see English or Spanish, and you can just choose the language in which you would like to listen and participate y

[1:37] alright. and let me share my screen, and I will pass it over to you, Carlos. Yvomos adar inicio anastroneon. The estimates Julio

[2:05] ratios for historically. en la finda over. Hi, Carlos. Yes, I would like to add an agenda. Item. Could we add discussion of meeting time to the agenda? Please. Christian. We can certainly do that, Elizabeth. I don't think we need a a vote for that one. Or do we need a vote. I, let's just go ahead and take a vote. And I think you could put that under an action item.

[3:04] Okay. all right. So there you go. In favor. Yeah, go for it, Carlos. Supuldar. Okay. Christian. A probado. Awesome. So I will go ahead and pop that in. Here. Give me one second. I'm gonna share my screen again.

[4:14] Okay, over to you, Carlos. That's yes. Rental says, no, me not promos minutas del mes pasado. I motion to approve the June meeting. Minutes. Second.

[5:04] Okay, probado muchas gracias, even though from Ontario a year ago. pare esto le paso la palabra, a Christian. Okay? And it looks like we do not have any members of the public joining for public comment. We'll pass it on back to you, Carlos. Versus plistium, wrong influencers, bubbles restaurants.

[6:02] There are you in Cambia for security, la rene z tiempo effecta, as I see this is the Pazola palabra. Emily! Thank you, Carlos, so I am hoping to start a coaching program starting in September, and unfortunately it meets on Tuesday evenings at this time. and so I'm wondering if for folks here, if another night of the week might work for you either Monday or Thursday evenings work for me. So wondering if either of those work for any of you all.

[7:00] Both Monday and Thursday work better and honestly work a little better than me for than Tuesday for me. I think maybe Thursday is a slight preference. But either Monday or Thursday actually either one really works great. Okay, thank you, Erin. How about for you, Carlos? Espero preferencia paramiseria UN lunes query services tengo otras reuniones. The rudeness area perfecto for me. Monday's great. Great. Thank you, Erin and Carlos, Elizabeth and Christian. How about for you, too. I think one thing I would just share. I was sharing with Kristen longer back. And I think, Carlos, maybe this happened

[8:04] early in or in your time on the Hrc. We used to have meetings on Monday, and then we switched to Tuesday. For similar reasons. It worked better for community members. Also there are several months, maybe not several, but some depending on where Thanksgiving Falls or you know, holidays like that, but also Martin Luther King, Jr. Some holidays that are on Mondays. would fall on Hrc. Days. So when that happens, we would just move the meeting for that that particular month. Either change the week and keep it on a Monday, or move to a different day of the week. It's not a big deal. So that's the only thing I would share. Sometimes I might have a conflict on a Monday, so I would just look to Christian as to whether or not that feels like consistently

[9:03] available time for you. That works fine for me. Would just need to double check. But I I don't think there's any that would mean any like change in terms of when we notice or make public notice of our meetings as those go out on Sundays. I would just want to, because I have a recurring sort of like Hrc schedule. If we're looking to do 3rd Mondays of each month, second Mondays of each month. So that way. I can just adjust that and keep us on on track here. Y que pasaria Si hablamos de UN cueves.

[10:06] That's probably more problematic, for well, I don't know. Those are city council meeting nights. It's that would not tend to be a challenge for Christian, but it would be sometimes a challenge for me and for Roberto. So I think it's probably better to stay away from Thursday. But maybe what we could do is plan on Monday, and then, Christian, I can just check again to see if there are any other conflicts, including with Roberto's schedule. And again, he's not always here. So it's just it doesn't mean there's automatically a problem every time. But we can just check that to make sure.

[11:00] Don't, says ablariamos de los lunes unloones him request necesitariamos UN namocione probacione. Well, thank you all so much for your flexibility. I really appreciate that. That's super helpful. I motion to approve us moving our meetings from Tuesdays to the 3rd Mondays of the month. I second that motion. Consists aprova esto

[12:05] gracias todos, elizavedi Christian por. So instead of oyo, I still it was just as the Emily, for comparative to to the sale. The Maroon Port Apoyar. No, tambi, it's almost restro siguienteones informales notre SL. It's been the la comicion paso la palabra.

[13:10] Cool so on the difficult dialogues front. I've had an ongoing conversation with with Ami about what partnership would look like, and it seems like a cool shape is emerging. It's a little bit of what I mentioned last week or last month. But there's there's an interest of partnering with Ami on doing these kind of what he's already been doing of. Like the conversation. Which is like a theatrical show that involves having a conversation. And he's doing it about Israel Palestine. But it's also a kind of theatrical show that could could involve conversations on a lot of things. And so the idea is to kind of bring this theater theater thing that he has already kind of done. But bring us into partnership around it

[14:02] and do it like twice in a month, and maybe even try and make it a a recurring thing. We'll need to see what support could come in for that But we were thinking like, do like 2 of those over the course of a week, and then have that open into a something that's kind of like using the interview game where it's like we can do open a zoom room and basically like, have a thing where it's like we have up to 16 people there, and me and Ami at minimum. Maybe others could also play a part in this would like help facilitate facilitate a dialogue kind of like the interview game. And so just kind of like again using theater as a way to open this conversation up inviting people in and then creating an ongoing an ongoing conversation around it, and it seemed like it was the kind of thing that was like a reasonable left enough lift on all sides.

[15:00] One of the questions around that is what partnership with the city could look like. And I know, Christian, you mentioned that there is like some Hrc budget that we might be able to like use to support. I don't think you mentioned quite what that budget would look like are you able to share anything around that. I can get that info fairly quickly. If you want to keep this conversation going while I'm pulling that up. Okay, cool and so kind of like the gist of it is like what he told me is like he's got his crew of like 7 people, and he says, like at a minimum, they could probably like pull it together for like a thousand dollars or something a show. And if there's a little more that's like that's like helpful and then and then we would probably need to put some funds towards like licensing the interview game, and so I need to get clarity from Dr. Jennifer on on that but but that that seems super workable in that and so again. My my hope is that we can have enough

[16:16] budget from the city where we can at least sponsor one round of this only was really hoping we could do it where it's like we do 3 months in a row, just to kind of like build a rhythm, and we can like play around doing it for different dialogues. And so part of that depends on how much how much budget there is to support and the idea was to do it at the the Canyon Theater, and so to maybe also, see if we can help support. And maybe that's something you can help with Christian like seeing if if we can get the Canyon Theater reserved like a couple times over the course of a week, potentially on a recurring basis to to make that happen. So while Christian's looking that up would love to hear Emily and Carlos any thoughts from you all.

[17:03] Yeah, thank you, Erin. That's helpful to have a more tangible idea of what you all are thinking. I remember seeing I believe, that conversation. play, or whatever you would like to call that experience advertised. But I don't actually know anyone who went. Do you know anybody who went? Or did you go. I haven't I? I just barely missed. It was just showing down in Denver, and I wasn't able to quite make my schedule work. So the next scheduled one is in Denver in September, so I haven't experienced it myself yet, and I'm not sure if I know anybody who who went. Okay. Now, everything I know about it is from Omni. Yeah. I guess I I would like to know more about what that is and what feedback they've received from. Performing that that would be helpful. Thank you.

[18:02] Yeah, great. Any thoughts from you, Carlos. You are muted. Rid of them. Asirca de esto itariamos reunir for a para estos. Yeah. Okay, no, sir. 4 k champion en entrant services.

[19:00] Quemos quemos apoy otros. I don't think there's any strong expectation from for members of the Hrc. To exert a lot of effort towards this like I volunteered to help facilitate one of the dialogues. Me and me and I may have had enough conversation there that him and I both feel comfortable with that others could probably join for that if they wanted to. so that's that's an option. I think the main support is like again, like putting putting our name behind it and then helping with the the financial piece. I do think helping with advertising will help, but I think that, like they already have enough like. I think they've already had a pretty good audience coming to the boulder and the Denver one. And so I think there's a lot of people who would all already join for this. So I can get more more clarity on that. But I think.

[20:13] yeah, I think in general, the biggest asks are again me helping with the dialogue piece, and others if they want to. And then again, like the stating of partnership, because that just it. Just it adds weight to the experience. And I think that's kind of the idea is like, this is a really meaningful piece. And like, from what I've understood it's been received well by the public, and like how it's like attempted to like bridge the polarities, and like actually meet the conflict in a good way. And so I think, just like the partnership from the Human Relations Commission adds a little bit more weight. And demonstrates that, like the city of Boulder is kind of taking this, and so it kind of bridges it into a deeper conversation. Is my understanding. I think at a prior meeting we had maybe even voted. You can correct me if I'm mistaken on all being trained by Dr. Ho! In the difficult dialogue interview game. So

[21:11] just wondering if that's still part of the conversation. Yeah, I mean, I think I think that is totally an option. I I don't. I don't remember where. If maybe Christian can share, if you remember more of where that piece of the conversation was at. yeah. Pretty much the last that I have is. We were dividing sort of the 2 like pieces of this into like 2 individual items, whereas we've been discussing this is like difficult dialogues and has been there's the interview game aspect. And then there's the piece that you're discussing right now, Aaron, and essentially

[22:00] both are, as far as I understand, both are still an option. Dr. Ho's biggest like concern, was just making sure that Ami, as the sort of like owner of the intellectual property of the interview game gets compensated for is intellectual property, but she is willing and able to lead a like train the trainer for that. We just would need to work out the details of the like financials with Ami and then she's good to like coordinate in terms of setting that up. And also real quick. I do have just budget. So it looks like I will need to just double check on this. It looks like we have in the area of a thousand dollars. Right now, however, I'm showing in

[23:08] my platform that is like our budgeting platform that it is overspent. But I don't ever recall spending in this category. And so I just need to figure out why I'm showing as overspent. But the line. Item for miscellaneous purchase services that I have for the Hrc. Is a thousand bucks. If there is more that needs to be. or more being requested. I can always look into that. I just can't make any guarantees. We may be able to move something around but we are also in a constrained budget environment. And so I don't know what the specifics of that might look like right now. Gotcha. Okay. Is that for the fiscal year that began in July? Or what's the timeline for that Christian.

[24:10] We run on, Elizabeth. Correct me if I'm wrong. A calendar like a Jan. One to December 31.st So and that's a thousand bucks for the calendar year. Yeah. Cool. Okay, that that adds a little bit more complication. My, my guessing it was I was guessing it was a little higher than that. yeah. cause cause it sounds like they'd be able to do it for like maybe a thousand dollars per night. And we were hoping we could like support for for a few nights of this and so that will means like, maybe we can support for one night or we have to get a higher budget. So okay, I'll have to bring that back to to Ami to see what's possible. There. And I'll just go ahead and talk. Reach out to you

[25:01] the budget analyst that I work with to see what might be possible, and in case I can catch you before you go into that next meeting, Aaron. Cool. Yeah, yeah. As as soon as you have information there, just let me know, and that will be helpful. I'll probably try and talk to Ami later this week, or early next week. And is that the same line? Item that we would be drawing from for getting trained as well? Oh. More than likely. Yes, so it may be a decision that we have to make as a group here, like, what if we do want to put these funds towards this effort, like what it is specifically that we'd be putting the funds to. Yeah, I would just throw in from the peanut gallery that just always maintaining a 1st and foremost for any of us to focus on. What is it

[26:02] that you? What is the impact or change that you want to have in the community? And then kind of work backward into okay of the world of options that we have available to take some actions, you know, hold activities, whatever that is. which is, which are the best right that that will get us to those outcomes over a period of time and obviously matching up with budget, you know, to those opportunities. And it is an important part. Okay, okay, cool. And yeah, I mean, I mean, like, what's you said we can request more like. is that like, is that something we should be asking for. Can you like just share more like I? I think this would be a worthwhile use to like use a little bit. But again, like I'm not the one in charge of all the budgets, so like. Yeah. And so when I'm when I'm saying that I am talking about moving

[27:02] because we don't always spend like the full budget for like food or interpretation, for if we like cancel a meeting or something like that, so there's the possibility to roll some of that unspent but already sort of like factored into the budget money into a different line item. And so I can. That is what I would be looking at with. My colleague of where have we maybe underspent that we might be able to. Okay. Free up some funds to put towards this, and so I'll get that started sooner than later, for you. Okay, cool. Appreciate it. Yeah, I guess. Not to belabor this point, Erin, but that brings back Elizabeth's comment brings back to mind just wanting to know more about what the conversation experience is, so that we can kind of understand. Obviously, I think we've all agreed that this Israel-palestine conflict is extremely important to

[28:14] address and just be with as a committee, a commission. And I guess from the information you've provided, I'm just not so sure what the impact is of the conversation. There's a lot of information online about like reports, like people like articles and everything that were about it. And so there's been a good bit written, and so I linked to one. But there's yeah. There's there's a number of good good places where you might be able to like. Go and learn a little bit about what it what it is. Public receptivity. And and also that the offer is always open. If, like anybody else wants to join more fully on this like Mini commission to talk with Ami and others, and more than happy to welcome others into into more of this process. But yeah, again, I shared that information. I think you can look up and find more online if you want to want to know more.

[29:14] But yeah, I'm not sure quite what else I could do. Besides like linking you to sort of where where I've been doing some of my own research on it. Yeah, thanks, Erin. I'll check that out. Oh, my God! I think maybe what might be helpful or might be definitely to your question there, like, I think what you might be trying to get at is, if a community member is coming to one of these events like, what are they going to be? And they attend, they participate. They go to the theater production, they participate in one of the facilitated dialogues afterwards. What is it that

[30:02] that community member is leaving? that experience with or like. What are, what are we hoping that they walk away with? Is that am I getting that right? And Erin? Is that something that you think is in the like articles. Yeah, I mean. Essentially what it is. It's like I think I've been using as an example. It's like the Boulder Valley comprehensive plan where they brought modus theater, and and basically use this improv to as a way to like welcome in diverse perspectives. And my understanding is, it's something very similar to that where they're actually like inviting in the perspective. How do we have a dialogue about it? And like inviting different people from the audience to bring in their perspectives in a way that like lets the dialogue happen, but it like lets. Most of the dialogue happen through the people on the stage who are very trained in how to like hold these conflicting perspectives? Well, and so the gist of it is is like

[31:08] using theater as a way to enact. How do we actually have this dialogue as a community? And the whole thing is based around like addressing the polarization and like not trying to say it's this or it's this. But like looking at, how do we dialogue about it? Yeah, thank you. That was a helpful description. Erin. Are we still in terms of audience? I'm curious, like with this event. If there's if we would just have it be open to the public and do broad outreach, like we did for the human trafficking workshop. Or if we have, I know the the impetus, for this was in part what was happening at City council meeting. So I'm just curious where your thoughts are. Erin or Ami or Carlos in terms of who we would invite to this

[32:11] I mean, I think the gist it it's like, because it's it's more of like a performance. There is some like inclusion like, but it's like most people are kind. like the primary role of observer, observer, participant. Because of that, we don't need to be like finding all the right people who can like hold the dialogue incredibly well. And who are the people that need to be there? So it's like, it's much more of broad outreach to the community like reaching out to all the different groups who are like part of this. I think we want to be reaching out to people who are very pro Israel, very pro Palestine, like reaching out to these different groups and inviting people into it, but really just inviting the community as a whole to come and show up, and to just like get to be a part of this dialogue and get to witness and like get to be a part of somewhere where we're like actually looking at like, can we get a little bit more to the heart of this dialogue and try and move it forward in a good way that like brings more togetherness as a community. And so I think from that perspective to answer your question, it's like, I think we want to really do a broad outreach to the community, because there's a lot of people who are concerned about this and want to know where they can show up in a way that might actually like move things forward.

[33:37] So yeah, I guess. Christian, you can get the information there. I'll go and talk to to ami, and let him know, like a little bit more of where we might be at in terms of budget, and see how we can work with that. yeah, Emily and Carlos. Any anything more? To add anything more that we might need to be in dialogue around this to like support moving forward.

[34:03] And just a reminder to all real real quick. We do. We do have interpreters trying to interpret. So I always need to remind myself, just slow down a little bit, especially when we're talking about something that we are excited about. So Roosevelt's just saying, love the emotion. Please slow it down. That's great! Thank you for the reminder. Rosabel and Christian Erin. I think one other question that I have going into this event is just how how those strong emotions are are held in the space. So getting a better sense from Ami about that, I was just at a the screening of no other land, the documentary and leading up to that there was quite a bit of online.

[35:02] Push back and this. There wasn't a lot of verbal pushback during the film or afterwards. But there was some, and so I would feel better if we had a transparent plan of how you know, if if it's a public space that's beautiful in some ways. And how do we support the norms of dialogue within the space? And I feel confident that Ami has a plan. I would just like to hear more specifically about that. Yeah, I mean, I know that he's felt very prepared to to navigate it. And like. there's he's he's gotten pushback from both sides of this equation around it, and, like, has continued to adapt to make sure that it's really meeting, like the dialogue in the middle.

[36:04] I also think that in general the the pushback for this will be different than no other land. Mostly, because, like no other land, it's it's expressing like very much one side of the dialogue, and it's an extremely important side of the dialogue to be expressing but you're going to get some pushback there, and because it's it's really advocating for a very specific thing. And this, this is coming at it from a different angle, because this is less saying like, here is the thing that everybody needs to listen to. And this is more like. I think, creating creating a space for us to to have the more a more full dialogue around this, and to welcome those perspectives. And so, just from what I'm witnessing, the emotions and the pushback towards this event are less than no other land. I wouldn't say there's no emotion or pushback in relationship to it.

[37:02] But my understanding is is that, like Ami has been able to kind of like, hold that? Well, but I I think it's definitely an important question, and definitely something I'll bring up in in conversation with him. I mean, yes. a study for the okay.

[38:00] Okay, am I respondent, yeah. Yeah. But okay, Si los podemostra uniones. Hotel resno tra los eventos. yeah, and I mean, it's worth worth like mentioning more fully that like what ami and I were talking about is like, doing the first, st if we do multiple rounds of these, doing the 1st one around Israel Palestine, but letting it be an ongoing process of dialogues in our community with a big like one of the ones we want to be talking about being immigration. And so that might be be a real nice one. That might be really good to invite more Latin perspectives on. Didn't. Isn't Dr. Ho! Doing a difficult dialogue in the fall on immigration. Yeah, yeah, they are as well. Yeah. And so there's a good way that these can be in sync. If if this one also happens

[39:08] because the the conversation as a theatrical thing, is different from difficult dialogues, but they're extremely compatible. Sort of different variations on a similar theme. Let me in city of when I say it's already made a zoom. Nope. It was serious. Customers haven't received the pump to cash Siempre. No, mes de gusto

[40:03] bear up in there, or okay, Senor. Yes. So with sort of the quickly passing summer. We are coming up on August, which is the typical retreat time for the Hrc. I looked through some documentation, and like file folders that ingrid left behind to see what I could find in terms of retreat past retreats. What has been done seeing, as last year you all were there, and I believe it was geared towards fairly new commissioners and new staff, as well as that was my 1st retreat.

[41:06] And really just kind of grounding in what is the Hrc. What is the Hrc's function? Sort of within housing and human services. as well as sort of the city entity and as well as some just overview of the ordinance, and the sort of role as the Hrc. In. if called upon to help with enforcement of the human rights or failure to pay wages, ordinances. Seeing as we just did a bit of that at the last the June meeting. That would probably feel like

[42:00] going to the dentist or something. insert your unpleasant experience here for all of you so wanted to open up some conversation around. What is it that we would like to do with our retreat time, as well as get some sort of hard and fast logistics of when we would meet. Since we're just changing our meeting time and our meeting day and time. And the retreat is typically correct me if I'm wrong, Elizabeth. But like typically a 3 h. Sesh, with some session with some time to some dedicated time to just really connect on a personal level among commissioners, and also worth noting there as well. I don't believe it is a because it's a retreat would be like a public meeting that we would record. It is a

[43:05] sort of internal gathering to focus on sort of what we want to as the Hrc. So I just want to open it up for some conversation. Carlos, you as well framed it very nicely. I appreciate that, and I see Elizabeth is raising her hand. So Elizabeth. Can I just make a quick kind of add to what Christian Christian was saying about just context. So one thing that is all kind of always in a agenda item, or or should be, is some conversation about work plan that. It happens in the August timeframe in the past has been you know, allow new members, if they come on in the spring to be able to get that grounding which again you all you all did last year, and then really think about and and focus on what the work plan will be for kind of the coming year. It's, you know. Sometimes those happen work plans happen a little bit later in the year for things that will happen again kind of starting in January. So it's not that important.

[44:21] that things only start kind of at the beginning of the next calendar year, but it will be a good opportunity, I think, to take some of the ideas that you've been talking about for the last several months, and really lay them out. Get really clear, as you have been discussing already. On like, what is the change that we want to see in our community? What's our role? How does that tie back to our purpose? Just make sure there's really a good kind of through line on the on those kind of activities to outcomes, to impacts. And so we have again, like some a variety of methods to do that, and ways in which Hrc. Can track its work. You'll remember from

[45:08] last year and kind of before that. And, Carlos, when we set up the spreadsheet right? Just like, here's your work plan. It's yours. Tap it. We'll keep it updated. But just that would be one thing. That's just a good topic to always check in on at the meeting. and from there, you know. Sometimes boards and commissions will want to spend some time getting to know each other on a deeper level. Or, you know, if there's something that involves a little bit of data, compilation or research that you want to bring to the meeting, or that you would like for Staff to bring. We can help with that within reason as long as it's doable within our capacity to to turn around. So that's, I think, having some discussion now on what some of those ideas are will help us be most prepared. Help. You have something that's the best use of your time.

[46:07] The only other thing I was gonna say and I'm gonna be honest at the date. The timeline is escaping me, Christian. But that we're having to kind of re recruit for Hrc. Means it's possible that new members might not be there if we go with the original kind of the date we have currently. So the other thing I just wanted to throw out is, this is a little bit of a monkey wrench in the machine. But, You could think about timing right if you wanted to have a retreat. It might seem a little strange to have a retreat, and then hopefully have new members join like, right after the retreat is is what I'm saying, and yeah, Christian, I didn't talk about that ahead of time. Sorry, Christian, but that's 1 thing just to think about. I think if if there's a really good reason right to to try to think differently about timing. You could do that as well.

[47:06] and if not right, we'll always work with what happens? It'll be fine. But just one consideration. And you said, it's usually in August. It has traditionally been in August. Yeah. Well, speaking of the timelines, I, personally would love for it not to be in August, because I'm going to be in Oregon for almost the entirety of August. So yeah, so we want to move it back. That would definitely help me ensure I can be present. There. Yeah, we definitely wouldn't want to have the meeting without you, Erin. A couple things came to mind for me. One I would I would love to connect with you all on a deeper level. Maybe in some like semi structured way, and I can think about that if nobody else wants to think about it. But just to connect more personally in an intentional way would be really nice. I think, also doing

[48:08] it might be nice to do some reflecting of what we've done in the last year, and then forecasting out a year from now at the next retreat, thinking about what might be, we might want to be reflecting on, if that makes sense. Kind of dreaming or visioning. Another thing I'm thinking about is, I think. reflecting. Now, in the moment, I think we've done a really good job of being responsive to people that come to us and what their concerns are, and I have curiosity and some concern that we may not be aware of the human relations issues that are present in our community because they may not be as prominent, or people who are experiencing them are not aware of the Commission, or feel comfortable coming to the Commission, so I would love to think of more ways to proactively source

[49:14] ideas of what we should be doing as a commission, as one of the agenda items. Those are what come to mind to me for the retreat. Easy wooden otros estee punicionados

[50:10] those tambien here iber que slo que estamos haciendo que lo quetamo realisando. So you just look at the memos Mister a sorita. Yes, those are all kind of parts of the same topic. And again, it can be structured in a number of ways. Carlos, you might remember from A few years ago we had nia Wasink come in and lead a session, a discussion among commissioners about your role in being out in the community, which, again, I think, if it's helpful, we can. Christian and I can kind of bring up some of the discussion items from some of those past meetings.

[51:12] You've all been doing that already. often, right where you'll say it's it's our role to go out to community events and talk to people proactively, go to where they are and engage that way. But those were some other at the time, right things that were just different ideas for the commissioners to talk about and kind of have some agreements and put in the work plan and there could be many, many other ideas like that. But if it's helpful, we can provide some of those reminders and or just new information for you all about what what that's looked like in the past.

[52:00] and it looks like if these dates hold, and so far we don't know why they wouldn't the new Board Commission members would be appointed at a special meeting of city council in mid August. But it might be a little bit of a quick turnaround. And Erin, if you're not gonna be available. There wouldn't be quorum, and you wouldn't hold it so that might be a moot point for August. So maybe we shoot for a September retreat. Only thing on my end is, I am probably gonna be on parental leave for September, at least. So that is, gonna remove me from the retreat equation there. Hope to be back by October. Potentially. Yeah, it's kinda still up in the air. But that could be a possibility. We could look at bumping it back to October.

[53:05] Cause, I mean, October could be a really nice time, because that would give whoever joins like at least one meeting to just like get a feel for regular meeting time, and have a little bit more of a gradual uptake rather than just like tossing them straight into retreat mode and so that might make sense. I'm seeing head nods. Do we want to? Maybe sounds like October might be a good time to like, for in terms of retreat.

[54:08] Permiso ehemos con salvado no el salvado. This one we have. Usually we did on last year. We did on a regular Hrc meeting that I want to say it was just instead of like. See. 6 to 8. It was like 5 to 8, or something like that. Yep. Okay.

[55:03] Como gusten UN salado oy lunes. My parents say the end. Yeah, I. For another day. It doesn't have to be. Sure. It's can be. Whenever works for you. We just again, as Christian said, need to know plenty of time so that we can make sure we're communicating with communicating with transparency publicly. Yeah, I'm just seeing I have a 1 time commitment that day during our meeting the 3rd Monday of October. Las. It is. Yes, it's 30 Ibm.

[56:06] I can make that work. It don't, says Seriella Christian. At that point it would really be whatever. Let's get for the. For the Commission. I we don't, since we don't typically like meet on weekends or anything like that, there's no like necessarily like pre-planned weekend, or whatever we can essentially choose, and to do it at the convenience of the commissioners.

[57:09] I would just offer that in terms of Christian's parental leave. Of course nobody knows when baby will arrive, so maybe later in the month is safer. Then we could be looking at. Be looking at. The 18th is the 3.rd Saturday or the 25th would be the 4th and final Saturday. It seems like maybe the later the better. So maybe the 25.th

[58:03] How? How long is the retreat? 3 h. Okay, yeah. I could do the 25.th UN voto paresto. Elizabeth. I don't believe so. There's like a administrative. Yup, it's fine! Yeah. All good. Okay. Timing wise. What? What? Hours? We could do like a later, like a lunch, maybe like 10 to one or 11 to 2,

[59:01] break break a little bit in the middle for some connection, or I don't know. Does that sound better to you 2, or do you want a a breakfast meeting or a brunch meeting? Either. One works well for me. Yeah. Breakfast, brunch, lunch. I'm good with any of those I like that. Wonderful since we have the gift of a little bit more time. I've heard a few different ideas thrown at that with folks would like to incorporate into the retreat. So work plan some just connecting time.

[60:05] Reflection on sort of what the Commission has done, and where the Commission would like to B at the 2026 retreat. And so if you have requests or ideas, or just more to build on there and would like to share. Please do Just reach out. You can get in touch with me directly, and we can go from there. Thank you, Christian. On that note, Elizabeth. The person that you mentioned that came to speak at the meeting before was that just at a regular meeting, or was that at the Retreat. It was a retreat and she wasn't really speaking. She just came. She came. The Commission was interested in having

[61:05] someone else come in kind of in addition to staff, and just help facilitate. Okay. More of a strategic conversation about, you know. kind of understanding part of it's understanding what we what your role is again and you know. What are you required to do? What are some of the parameters we talked about? What kinds of things belong in the work plan? Again, that kind of tie together the impact you want to have with purpose, what kinds of activities. And then what happens when? in times when there is not a direct request or desire, right from city council, or even other city departments, to provide a specific service or engage with the community around a specific topic, and so she kind of came in. We offered the opportunity that if they wanted the Commission could ask, we could arrange for someone else to come in and just help

[62:16] facilitate that conversation among commissioners. So it was helpful at the time. I don't know that it's always necessary. But again, we can certainly. if you like. Go back and provide you with some of the kind of notes, materials, etc, from some recent past retreats, so that you just have a sense of the different ways of thinking about how to use your time together. Christian and I obviously have other ideas we can propose. If if you're interested in that as well. Yeah, okay, yeah, I would be interested in seeing those other materials. And I am. I am just curious, Carlos and Erin. What you all thought on is on having somebody come and facilitate. It's not something I feel like super strongly about, and I feel curious and open to it. If if you 2 feel excited about it, and that it would be useful.

[63:22] Yeah, I think I feel similarly, I feel open. It seems like it could be interesting. And for Western may participate in. Yeah, let's go for it. Quick clarification. Good! Good to what?

[64:07] Gotcha. Okay, So we can definitely look into that. I would just observe, I I don't see that? I think it'll be a good idea, maybe, to continue to develop the ideas of how you wanna structure like the topics that we've already talked about, and then decide. Is that a conversation you feel comfortable? Having among you yourselves, I would observe in Christian mind as well. You don't. You seem to be able to discuss things among each other quite nicely, so that that's not the only indicator of of needing or wanting a facilitator to come in. But just just something to think about, like what you can, you know, make that request. How would? How would that specifically help? And I'm just posing that question because we as staff

[65:03] do that all the time, right? Like everybody. We've got meetings constantly. And there's like, you know. maybe this is really an opportunity for us to bring in someone? Strategically, is there a is there something different? You want to unlock, etc? But before we go kind of engaging. I think the next question is, What do you want me to do? And so I just want to be sure it's We understand kind of what the express purposes for having a facilitator come in versus. It's something that you can do. And so it's. And so you're interested. I'm not kind of pushing back on the idea, but I think normally we would have a little bit more clarification about the purpose for bringing someone else in externally, and if you're not sure right now, that's fine, you can think about it. We've got a little bit more time, right if it's going to be in October, but.

[66:00] I guess for me something that might be helpful with an outside facilitator is identifying some of our blind spots that I agree, and I feel really grateful that we I think we do a great job of you know, being honest and direct with each other, and I don't think I don't think any of us are holding back per se, and I think especially because we're just 3 people. There's a lot that we can miss. And so I would love. And you know. Christian and Elizabeth, if you like, you can provide this in some other way, or Carlos or Erin, you feel like you can. Then that's great, but just really bringing like a fresh perspective and set of questions that maybe we haven't been with yet. And and I. I do think it's possible that the context of the retreat may facilitate that just because we don't have these types of open-ended conversations together normally,

[67:12] and again, like one of my primary interest interests in the retreat is, how can we like better, solicit ideas for direction, for the for the Commission? And and I don't. I don't know. I don't know the answer to that myself, which is fine, but just if a facilitator could help support us in thinking about those questions in a different way. One thing that could be interesting for us to like bring a little bit of that leadership in is perhaps we could kind of like all, sit with that question of like, what are a few questions that we want to ask ourselves as the Commission, and we can kind of like spend time thinking about those, and then maybe share them with the group, and then like, bring those into into the retreat.

[68:01] Because it it sounds like there's just a desire for us to have more generative dialogue. And so maybe there's a way that we can ask ourselves. Some of those questions bring that to the group at the Retreat, and then we can spend some time exploring some of those questions, and maybe that will actually enable us to find some of the depth and like forwardness that we're that we're seeking here. But to bring it on our own, and like that's not to say a facilitator couldn't also be good, like, I'm super open to that idea, and just like recognizing there might be some some ways that we can bring some of that that we're seeking in ourselves a little bit. Just kind of thinking of reflecting on what you've shared.

[69:00] If if it's helpful one thing that Christian and I can maybe do to help is just provide just a couple of different frameworks for the meeting kind of an out outlines, and that will help you at least kind of talk about some different options. You'll have hopefully a couple of new Hrc members by then who will have their own kind of ideas and energy as well, and just to give you something to react to and think about. Kind of try on and see if then it's something that you want to have a facilitator for, or feel like. Oh, no! This is a conversation we can totally take on ourselves, or questions and prompts, you know, to kind of get you thinking about, based on what we have seen and heard and how we've supported, you know the Hrc. Or other boards and commissions in the past again like not saying No at all. If you want to have someone, we can definitely make that happen. But again, just thinking about like what you shared Emily and

[70:07] and Erin kind of with an alternative perspective. Just getting clear on what what the function of that person is, and exactly what you want them to do. Otherwise it'll be a little tricky for us to talk with people if it's like, well, we're not sure so. But again, we can help provide a little bit of a framework for you and some different kind of options and scenarios you can react to. If that's helpful. It sounds like, maybe it's some good homework for all of us to just spend time between now and the next meeting, to just think about what we want there and then, once once we have a little bit more clarity of like what we want to get out of the retreat, then that can help guide us, to prepare for it more, and also help

[71:01] guide any facilitator we might want to bring in without some good things for us to reflect on heading up to the next week meeting. Yeah, Erin, are you gonna be able to join virtually in August or Yeah, yeah, I'll I'll be able to join. Virtually, I imagine I will be. Okay, got it. Okay, I just didn't know if we should plan to not. And then. Christian, in your absence on parental leave, will we still have a meeting, and just delegate your important duties to someone else like Elizabeth. We'll figure that out. Yes. Okay. I was just wondering if we were what our meeting cadence would be. So it sounds like we'll still have both August and September meetings, they'll just look a little different.

[72:00] Yes, we'll we'll figure that part out. I meant to assist que vomos que esta persona Benga ablar cono sotos. It's almost completamente de cuerde meso. Okay reunion ciuda. Yes, let me

[73:06] alright. So let me share my screen again real quick. Okay, So few updates. And Elizabeth, I saw you hit dropped a slide in after this. So if I can just knock out the 3 bullet points that I have, and then have you share out on, we'll have a little update on elevate boulder after here. But as we have talked about board and Commission recruitment, which includes the 2 spots on the Hrc. Is underway, as of yesterday.

[74:06] we had 4 total applicants. Which is 2 more than I think, where we were at the last round, which is great one of which is one of those is ineligible. So we're looking at 3, but great to see the interest last day for interested community members to apply is going to be this Friday, July 18.th I have a flyer in English and Spanish that I can send out to the group. It's part of my follow up. if you have anybody in particular that you think may be a good fit. Emily, I saw an email come through from a potential applicant, or maybe they already applied so just appreciate your help in doing some targeted outreach to folks who could be

[75:01] strong contributors to our group. The civic phase. 2. 0, Emily! Go for it. Sorry. hey, Christian? I just want to confirm. They had some questions that I couldn't answer, and just want to confirm that you'll be able to direct them and or me to share contact with them so they can get their questions answered. Yes, can do. Okay. Thank you. Christian. No problem. The civic area phase 2 engagement event was last night. Now, looking at this so that was over at Central Park from 5 30 to 7, 30 near the sort of like newly installed playground area. There was a Jeff and Paige concert and just another event together. Input from the community on the future of this area. There, I believe, will be maybe some more opportunities coming up. And I can put in

[76:08] so they website where you can find that information. And then the Boulder Valley comprehensive. No estuve geopolitical con. The Central Park serie a serie, a muy bueno, he said. Otrojiro ances familias. See Megusta la me gusta Li therea that's just missing.

[77:03] Fantastic. Thank you, Carlos. And to the surprise of no one, you are seemingly everywhere all the time, so glad to see you out, and I'm glad. You're engaging in the in the conversation. Okay. Last, but not least, this group has been interested in tracking the Boulder Valley Comp plan. So there will be some upcoming opportunities which do not anymore coincide with our meeting night. So tonight there's an event called building our voices to shape boulders. Future happening over at Fairview. High School. which is a sort of like skill building, as I understand it, opportunity for folks who are looking to engage in the sort of like planning process here. And then in August,

[78:03] there will be opportunities for community members to host gatherings, host their own virtual gatherings, and so those are will be planned for August 19, th from 6 to 8 Pm. And interested community members can explore that opportunity on the older value Comp plan website, which I will share out with folks. Those are the sort of updates I have. And with that I'll pass it over to Elizabeth for an update from elevate boulder. And if you want Elizabeth, I can just keep sharing the screen or whatever you'd like. Oh, yeah, if you don't mind to just flip to the next slide and share it. That would be great.

[79:00] So Carlos had mentioned to Christian. Wanting a little update on the project, and I believe we've shared some about it since Emily and Erin have been on the Commission. Is that correct? Is my memory correct? Okay, great. So just a very brief update. The project was started. That is to say, the payments began going out to 200 community members in January 2024. So we're kind of on the last, you know, 6 months of the program which is hard to believe, but those payments will continue through January 2026, just as a reminder the funding for the pilot program came through the city's allocation from the American Rescue Plan Act or Arpa. That was a 3 million dollars allocation that included not only the direct

[80:06] cash assistance payments to community members, but also making sure we had all of the design work done. Supported a community task force to help us make those decisions. Consultants, including evaluation consultants, so that we really. truly can learn from the pilot in and of itself, and also whether or not it might be something that the city will want to continue in some form. And so the evaluation data that we have so far, there was an interim report that was we released back in December 2024 and The last step in the formal evaluation process is to have a 3rd and final survey results. That survey is out to participants right now, and we can see that about 70 participants, so far out of around 130 of the 200 had initially expressed interest in taking evaluation surveys so hopefully. We'll have many more people fill that survey out this month.

[81:20] and the consultants will then work on creating a final report that will be released in September to really share, not just what were the kind of immediate impacts that participants were seeing. But this last survey will also help go a little bit deeper into looking forward. How have they maybe been able to advance in their financial stability and look ahead and and make kind of longer term changes that will hopefully help them in the longer term. So the early results were very promising. And so we're hoping that the trends in benefits to people who are participating will continue.

[82:07] Also happening right now. we are working with going to be working with a number of storytelling practitioners or experts. We're offering opportunities to participants to engage in activities so that they can more creatively express what being in the program has meant for them. Those opportunities include photo voice or kind of mixed media, photography and audio reflections, writing. If participants want to write an essay or even use poetry to express themselves. We plan to do some video. We have some folks who will be taking working with participants to turn their experience into very short video clips.

[83:03] podcast content. So we have quite a range and then performance through kind of oral storytelling on stage, in a performance and which, assuming people sign up for some of all of these, some of those activities will be made public and give the our community the opportunity to hear directly from participants beginning in September and then continuing through October. So we're really excited about that and hope that participants will be signing up for these opportunities. To more creatively express themselves. They don't need to have any experience in any of these storytelling methods. It. That doesn't matter just an opportunity for them to connect with each other and have some guidance and expressing what it's meant to them. whatever their experience was hopefully positive. Maybe not all. And we just want to really hear from that

[84:03] the purpose of again having this evaluation results and the storytelling opportunities are number one. It's, it's, we hope, really helpful and beneficial and enriching for the participants. And it's important that all of us in this community really learn about what it's like to live with low income in boulder. And what kind of difference that this trust based more, you know, dignified process, direct cash assistance that gives people the freedom to make choices about how to use these resources, how that, how that makes a difference. We all need to learn from that, and be constantly looking at other ways to help our community. Everyone in our community not just survive, but also thrive. So we're very excited about that, and hope that when the time comes that we'll have a lot of community members interested in in listening and learning from from what participants have to say.

[85:11] Emily. Thanks, Elizabeth. Yeah, this is really exciting. And I'm I'm looking forward to hearing from people who benefited from this hopefully benefited from this assistance. I'm wondering if there's any conversation in the city to continue the program. There is. We have been working for quite a few months now. City staff and with input from some of our nonprofit partners, people who participated early on in the task force thinking about what it would look like if we were to continue what is a realistic budget amount, and of course that is still unknown. don't think that we would be able to continue it moving forward at the same scale as with the pilot

[86:03] only because of per se perceived financial constraints. But if we're able to raise funds from outside the city to match, potentially some some funding from the city, then that opens many doors right? But we have also talked about what are some of the design, features, or process changes that we would make based on what we have learned in the pilot phase. And also we think that the feedback from participants could continue to shape how? How we would move forward. But it's it's staff, you know, and participants so far kind of gauging from the results and what they have shared. We really believe it would be beneficial. But of course there's there's a lot that goes into that decision. And ultimately it's a decision that city council is, you know would need to make as well in terms of budget allocations and whatnot.

[87:01] So so we are working on kind of gathering as much information and having as much of a a framework for what a an ongoing project would look like. So that if we get a yes, and it is possible. That we'll be able to begin to implement something for maybe launch again in 2027 after the things wrap up in early 2026 something that you know, we would have a new cohort or group of of people participating in a product in the program. Starting in 2027. That's awesome. Thank you. that's all. I had.

[88:15] Unables. Yes, but it must be yesterday to oblando there. Prestoy pueso! The the Monsieur mean can't taste. There's just a list of it.

[89:02] De los Conicionados. I wanted to share with you all. I had the privilege of going to the accu detox training this past weekend, and I don't know if any of y'all are familiar with accu detox, but it's a or accu wellness. It's a 5 point acupuncture. Protocol really developed to support active recovery from addiction. But it is also very helpful for stress and trauma. So this is a program that's accessible to anybody who needs that type of support pretty much every day of the week, so I wanted to just re up that as an important service.

[90:03] Avani Dilger runs it through her nonprofit natural highs. But it's all pretty much all volunteers working the sites. So I'm I'm really excited to to bring that to different places. And that's something that, as we continue to think of creative ways to be out in the community. That's a way that I'll look forward to to giving back to our communities through that treatment. Only update I have to share. Is that the event that I myself and my nonprofit and some friends helped put on last year coherent boulder. We're starting to begin the planning process to do that again, probably around the same time late October. And so just starting to work to bring in perspectives and get a sense. For, like what we can meaningfully service surface in like a 10 day

[91:06] container around boulder of like what are the different parts of boulder. How do we surface more meaningful things? How do we surface more communities? And so any partnership in that? I would love? Carlos, I know that, like the Latin community, is something that's happening in Boulder, that I'm less connected to. So any partnership from you around that would be meaningful and just in general from everybody like. If there's things that you think would be beneficial, would love to include you in that in that planning process, me and me and the core team are just starting to kind of get a lot of the initial vision and planning in place. But we're planning to start getting more partnerships around government and businesses, nonprofits in place and like outreach around that in the next month or so.

[92:06] In Pueblo Estee, Emily. let's say so as ingrid. See me, apunto. We'll get the low end up with you. That's perfect, and. No, that's neighbour, was there. Prathi. Yeah, I didn't mean to talk over you, sir. Yeah. no, not the precursions at the end.

[93:00] Yes. personas del conse com municipal. please do your own I if we soon we will go. When a second thing

[94:02] there's a synthesis algo masque tengamos que can. Xr is done. Okay. no etos cristia vamos a los puntos de segumiento. Yes, so I have. I will reach out to our budget team to look for the possibilities. What kind of possibilities we may have, in addition to the already allocated funds for The conversation slash difficult dialogue. Effort that Aaron is leading and then I will also look into just in case we need to be ready. Look at logistics for reserving Canyon Theater. If that is a space that we would like to be moving forward with so that we're

[95:12] ready if that's the direction we're going to go. And then also, I think I don't know if we would like to make it a follow up item, but I did hear just in general commitment seems a bit too strong, but general consensus around brainstorming ideas. For some questions the Commission would like to explore at the upcoming retreat. To be ready to discuss at a next meeting. Am I missing anything?

[96:00] Alright? I got the jazz hands cool back to you, Carlos. Let's this Christian er see what the memos otropunto que 10, you know. Then I'm notche. Then Arunion. I move to end the meeting. I second that motion. Interpreter, Los probedi mayra

[97:09] the thing I'm winning. Okay. Thank you, Carlos. Thank you. Thank you.