Lawrence Alliance Minutes

January 9, 2008
Submitted by Deb Taylor

Members Present:

Sarah Terwelp, Mike Monroe,  Carlos Otero, Robbie Derritt, Chris Keary, Baha Safadi, Bruce Ney, Deb Taylor

Members Absent:

Lori Tapahonso, Peter Luckey, Bob Hubert

Staff Present:

Toni Wheeler 

Meeting

Deb Taylor called the meeting to order at approximately 6:00 p.m. in the Heritage Room at Plymouth Congregational Church, 925 Vermont. Minutes of the November 14, 2007 meeting were presented. Robbie noted that Craig Butler's name was inadvertently typed as Bob Cutler. Sarah made and Robbie seconded a motion to accept the Minutes with the amended name. The minutes were approved on a voice vote. 

Deb mentioned that Mike Pattrick will let her know if we can present a Cultural Awareness series during the LPD training in February (4, 6, 11, 13). Mike said he will provide Deb with a list of all training sessions for 2008. Chris mentioned that he would like to hold Cultural Awareness sessions for KU Police (where he works). He will talk with other area law enforcement agencies--and possibly fire & medical)--about joining KU's training sessions. Chris requested that the training sessions be two hours long, which means we could invite two different groups to speak.

Deb asked Board Members to decide which programs/events we should provide for 2008. The Board agreed on the following: 

• continue LPD Cultural Awareness sessions and expand it to other law enforcement agencies
• continue Community Educational Awareness sessions such as the one we held with the Hispanic community, and expand it to include other groups as we get the opportunity
• invite representatives from various communities in Lawrence (e.g. Muslim, Hispanic, Elderly, etc.) to the Sept 10, 2008 Board meeting to discuss their perceptions of diversity and tolerance in Lawrence. This will be similar in style to the Board meeting we had on Sept 28, 05. We will see about meeting in the City Commission Meeting Room at City Hall so that we can broadcast/tape the session. We want to invite City leaders as well as health care professionals, school administrators and others to be a part of the audience. We plan to invite the Lawrence community to attend as well; we will generate public interest through flyers, Channel 6 banner announcements, and possibly PSAs through Hank Booth at 1320 AM radio.
• begin plans and sponsorship for a Cultural Celebration that could possibly take place in South Park in the summer of 2009. Our hope is that we can generate ideas through networking with the community members who attend the Sept 10 meeting.

Board members read the Lawrence Alliance Mission Statement, and all agreed that the Board's current activities reflect our Mission Statement. Deb stated that she plans to prepare a report on the Lawrence Alliance to present to the City Commission. She will send the report to Board members for review.

Adjournment

Chris made and Sarah seconded a motion to adjourn the meeting at approximately 7:17 p.m. The motion was approved on a voice vote.

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