Peoria Standard

Peoria County Joint Commission on Racial Justice and Equity Steering Committee met Sept. 16.

Here are the minutes provided by the committee:

Members Present: 

◻ x Timothy Bertschy, Co-Chair 

◻ Andre Allen, City Council Liaison 

◻ Angela Bolden 

◻ Charles Brown 

◻ Brandy Bryant, County Board Liaison 

◻ Mary Chapai 

◻ x Robert Dunigan 

◻ Raeann Garza Whitby 

◻ x Angela Green 

◻ Joshua Gunn 

◻ Julia Issa-Ghantous 

◻ x Jim Johnson 

Others Present:   None 

1. Call to Order 

◻ x Mary Peterson, Co-Chair 

◻ Micah Lavender 

◻ Chuck Mitchell 

◻ x Mike Murphy 

◻ x Rasheedah Na'Allah 

◻ x Pam Orear 

◻ Abrain Robinson 

◻ x Jonathan Wright 

◻ x Bradley Wright-Hulett 

◻ x Angela Young 

◻ Scott Sorrel, County Ex-Officio 

◻ Patrick Urich, City Ex-Officio

• Co-chair Mary Peterson called the meeting to order at 5:35pm. 

2. Approval of Minutes 

• Approval of August 19, 2021 Meeting Minutes—Pam Orear moved to approve the  August 19th meeting minutes. Jonathan Wright 2nd the motion. There were no  questions, the minutes were approved unanimously. 

3. Appointments 

• None, at this time.

4. Informational Items and Reports 

• Update on Subcommittees Co-Chairs meeting held on September 2, 2021 

➢ Tim Bertschy gave a brief overview of the meeting with the Subcommittee chairs held on September 2nd. He talked about the baseline that the Subcommittees  have been asked to create, action plan and timeline, and role of the Steering  Committee. (More details in the attached report) 

• Update on Open Meetings Act (OMA) Training 

➢ The electronic OMA training is still not accessible on the Illinois Attorney General  website. We will keep all parties updated on this matter. 

• Update on Governmental Alliance on Racial Equity (GARE) Membership 

➢ Mary Peterson talked about the status of GARE membership. City of Peoria had  a limited membership. Peoria County plans to renew and upgrade its  membership soon. Mary and Tim will keep the Steering Committee and  Subcommittee Co-chairs updated on this matter 

5. Discussion 

• Discussion on committee assignments on Equity work in other communities Each work group should write up findings of their assignments. 

➢ Governmental Alliance on Racial Equity (GARE) 

Na’Allah Rasheedah and Angela Young 

They looked at the website which has several resources and tool kits listed. They  hope to obtain more information when the Peoria County GARE membership is  renewed and upgraded. 

➢ Saint Paul, MN 

Pam Orear and Charles Brown 

Pam Orear sent several emails to contacts listed and had only one response thus  far. Equity efforts are focused internally within the governmental departments.  Pam hopes to hear from other contacts. She will put together a written report on the findings.  

➢ Multnomah County, OR 

Bradley Wright-Hulett and Angela Green 

Portland is the largest city in this County. The website was hard to read and not a  lot of information. 

➢ Madison, WI 

Mike Murphy and Mary Chapa 

Madison is not very diverse community. The impetus for this work was to  understand the link between health and race (more specifically diabetes). 

• Recommendations/Suggestions for Subcommittees research for baseline 

➢ Research Best Practices in other communities 

➢ Construct a framework for Subcommittee reports—Discuss further with  Jonathan Wright 

➢ Discuss how and when information will be shared further

➢ Evaluate process and feedback cycle 

➢ Use raw data for Peoria Region vs Peoria & Peoria County, not averages 

➢ Other place/organizations to obtain data 

▪ United Way 

▪ IL Board of Education 

▪ US (Averages) 

➢ Census Reports (Information & Technology has put data in a spreadsheet 

➢ Discuss the role of Steering Committee members with 8 subcommittees more 

6. Recommendations to the City and County 

• None, at this time. 

7. New Business 

• None, at this time. 

8. Adjournment 

• Co-chair Tim Bertschy adjourned the meeting to order at 7:00pm.

https://www.peoriacounty.org/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Minutes/_09162021-1039