and many more tribal Nations that are not federally recognized or not longer exist we recognize the cruel Legacy of slavery and colonialism in our nation and acknowledge the people whose labor was exploited for generations to help establish the economy of the United States we honor indigenous enslaved and immigrant people's resilience labor and stewardship of the land and commit to creating a f future founded on respect Justice and inclusion for all people as we work to heal the deepest generational [Music] wounds um do you want to also introduce yourself Matthew her legislative Council to the assembly great thanks for being here okay um so we oh wait what we looking at here oh I'm looking at the wrong agenda yeah that's a problem okay oh cuz I was going to be the my name is on there but I'm looking thr attended all right um okay so unfinished business um Teresa do you have any updates on the change lab analysis oh there we go can you hear me y can you hear me okay um a ARP did not pick them up for this next year so we don't have that opportunity all I have is the video and you do I know that you sent the video to Pastor May and me and I neglected to watch it Pastor did you watch it okay so we haven't seen that yet do you think that's how long is it Teresa uh it's I want to say it's 20 minutes okay do you think I can't remember exactly like is it informative you think it'd be worth spending time at one of our committee meetings to watch let me look at it again okay I think that's kind of why I sent it to you guys to see what you thought because I was sort of on the you know debating okay maybe if you can I was really hoping for the policy analysis what I was hoping for so okay well if we'll kind of table that for the next time we're together and if you have a recommendation then um and we can also talk about policy analysis in general at the work session on Saturday if people want to discuss that then um okay do we have any new member nominations I think Candace did you want to bring one I do have a new member nomination I would like to offer for membership actually as a replacement to me hopefully everyone got um a little note about my travel schedule and my hearing loss although today I'm hearing beautifully so you know Murphy's Law I guess um Thomas Pitman is the executive director of identity he is a health professional and health administration a member of the cling people and shares our values of dignity and Community um I think he would be an excellent representative of the lgbtq plus community and so I would offer him for membership his if he is a member becomes a member his first meeting would be in March any discussion from members only thing I would say uh Miss Candace was the uh I guess whatever it was the attachment you had was uh couldn't open it oh I sent it to it was a Word document sent to Jasmine so there may have lost something in the translation yeah I think all three of us tried to open it and we couldn't open it well yeah sorry about that yeah but is what you just shared basically what was in the word document uh basically qu a little bit more it had Thomas's history um he has a masters in health administration the various companies that he'd work for in that capacity um uh his Heritage through the kinget people in the Glacier Bay Area that was basically it great that's awesome thank you Lori go ahead I I would just like to wish you well on your travels C It's been a pleasure being in several different committee meetings with you and thank you so much for all you do for our community thank you very much great welcome toel last we're just um um we have a new member nomination for Thomas Pitman from Identity to replace Candace because Candace is um the party in the committee for a few few different reasons so we're just talking about that okay hello everybody hi okay any further discussion on Thomas Pitman any objections to Thomas Pit Pitman becoming a new member starting in March okay hearing none sounds like we have a new member Candace thank you so much for your time and your dedication and being part of this uh it's wonderful he gets here yeah no I was just gonna add to that to Candace what okay we'll talk later great yeah okay maybe before we go further we've had a couple more folks join celest you want to just introduce yourself again hello everybody it's good to be back Celeste of course with the black cck looking forward to the conversation tonight great and then can someone see who else that was Marie oh Marie do you want to introduce yourself Mar oh hello it says I'm still connecting do you hear me y we can hear you you want to introduce yourself yes thank you Marie husa member of the Filipino American Community longtime resident of Anchorage thank you great glad you're here okay um our main agenda item tonight is um the the presentation we're going to hear from Zenobia um but before we get there are there any kind of pressing Committee Member updates that anyone wants to share can I defer until after the presentation if time because I've got I've got a few things I wanted to yes that sounds good thanks s will I did respond to yeah I think during the uh I guess the Assembly of dat time CU a lot of that is question and answer kind of things might be a good time should we actually maybe that's a good question should we just move um item 4D up before committee updates that was sort of my my subtle okay is there any objection to doing that then we can have Zenovia present she's also on the East Coast that she might appreciate that any objections to that and then we'll come to comme updates and assembly updates after that yeah okay great um so let's just think about timing it's 20 to 5 right now so just as long as yeah we should have time great perfect okay Zenobia we'll hand it over to you oh okay can y' all hear me okay yeah sound great okay awesome um thank you so much for the invitation I'm so excited excited to be talking about this work that I I just completed so my name is Dr zobia Benfield I am a health Professor Health researcher and consultant and um I am here to talk about a project that I just completed and greetings from a baly Charlotte North Carolina where it is a beautiful 65 degrees right now it will be 71 tomorrow super excited about that well that is me doing a not so humble brag about that good warm weather we've got down here um so I'm really excited to talk about this project and to hear from you all um and just you know to have a conversation about it um so um during the pandemic it became clear I think a lot of things became clear right Co highlighted a lot of things about our society and various social problems but one thing that became abundantly clear was the disproportionate impact of covid-19 on black and brown populations and because because of this disproportionate impact um many counties across the United States at the time that I did my work it was about 209 jurisdictions passed a declaration stating that racism was a Public Health crisis I was hired by safe States Alliance which is a national nonprofit organization dedicated to injury and violence prevention to do really two big things the first job I was to do was to assess whether these declarations were performative or actionable my clients wanted to know like are they just saying this is this symbolic or are they actually trying to make a difference in folks lives and then finally what should we do about it right how should we move forward so I read all 209 um declarations and I spoke to various stakeholders across the country uh researchers Public Health officials and myself along with many other Scholars who have studied these declarations found that yes they were overwhelmingly performative and the reason we came to that conclusion was any sort of legislation that doesn't have a clear measurable outcome you don't know what you want to happen you don't have a budget and you don't have a timeline can't really do much right so so they are performative to a certain or to a certain point but just because they were performative doesn't mean they were pointless they were a rallying point for many organizations that have been dedicated to Health Equity work and they were a starting point for a lot of Grassroots organizations who sort of needed the language to mobilize around so performative yes pointless no and that's a really important distinction and and so moving forward one of the things safe States wanted to know was well what should we do how do we engage this conversation um and so my Approach was to study not just the resolutions and the places where those resolutions were passed but also to make notes of the areas where the resolutions did not get passed I think just some important context it's important to note that I think I mentioned about 209 according to the American Public Health Association about 209 jurisdictions or counties pass these resolutions that's about 10% of American counties um 10% of American counties so this was not a a a movement that was taken up by the majority of American counties which I think is important when we think about how do we engage Equity work how do we engage health work particularly as it relates to racism what should our approach be what should our organizational strategy be um what sort of theoretical approaches are we mobilizing and that's really where my recommendations lie and i' I'd love to hear y'all's feedback about some of these suggestions so I had five major suggestions um and I I sent I know I sent to Thea um okay I see you holding it up there okay yeah and the recomendations are on the back the back of the hand out thank you um so my first recommendation was for my clients and and really for for many organizations engaged in Health Equity to reframe the conversation at the time that I did my policy analysis 25 states were currently resending the Declarations or resending and stopping any work associated with Dei anti-racism Equity or Justice those Buzz words were were creating a a full stop in terms of funding in terms of organizational structure in terms of hiring practices now I was working for a National Organization and my argument to them is if you are a National Organization let's be mindful that if we use language that shuts us down in half of the nation we lose our ability to be efficient almost immediately before the conversation can even begin we have such a and I say we as our society we have such a difficult time talking about racism in this country that even those of us with the best of intentions end up putting our our foot in our mouths and there's so much push back that sometimes the racism entry although there are so many reasons why it is important to talk about racism it can often get in the way of getting things done it's such a emotionally Laden conversation and it's full of objective facts that are viewed and interpreted subjectively that it can get in the way of funding funding mechanisms it can get in the way of hiring practices and as a professor who's taught race in all types of environments you don't start with the hardest part first right that's something you ease it after you don't lead there so my suggestion was if we're going to reframe the conversation let's sort of U moving into my second recommendation let's focus on Local Economic issues so one of the things I noticed was most of the resolutions were passed by counties counties and City councils excuse me City councils are not set up to tackle large ideological issues they don't have the staff the Personnel the resources or knowledge Spas to tackle that so if you give them racism as a problem to tackle we're ringing hands for two years let's focus on what they are set up to do which is manage budgets handle operations of those budgets and answer to their constituents one of the things I found a great example is Indiana a completely Red State increase their Public Health spending by 1,500% which is almost unheard of in red states without ever mentioning racism and what's interesting right when we think about racism in the United States it is interwoven with classism right race and class are like this so we can talk about economics and still get at the issues attached to race now are there drawbacks to that approach absolutely right if we're talking about classism while we may get let's say about 80 to 85% of the issues that overlap with racism there's still that residual 20 to 15% right I mean we're not going to cover it all this is not a necessarily a better approach but it's more effective it's often more effective because it crosses it crosses those racial lines and and it's easier for people to get behind injury and violence prevention it's easier for people to conceptualize Child Care needs it's easier for people to conceptualize these things as opposed to something that's so ideological that we have to first come to an agreement that it even exists so I did some research on just perceptions of racism half of Americans don't even think it's real you can't convince them that it's a crisis if they don't even believe that it exists right so as we think about this let's think about how do we do work that people can get behind and very importantly work that won't be rescinded when a county goes from Blue to Red we want policy that has longevity and one of the things I saw in our swing counties were was those counties that went from Blue to Red rescinded the policy ended all the hiring practices and ended the programming and and and I worked again with a National Organization we don't want policy that has an 18mon time time time frame and every two years we're Reinventing we're Reinventing the wheel and so as I thought about talking about this work for this committee I listened to the YouTube video from the December meeting and I listened to the call for more support in child care which is a an American issue and quite frankly a global issue right um and I think and I I don't remember the name of the the person but they requested support for elders providing care for younger children that is a local economic issue not just providing them education but I'm a mental health scholar first and foremost and I thought a great uh a great economic issue here is investing in trauma informed care right that's something especially in areas that have um High addiction mental health issues behavioral health issues often because unchecked childhood trauma becomes adult addiction it becomes the increased likelihood of adults um engaging in Risky Behavior so when we're thinking about those local economic issues prevention often falls under that category and most people can agree yeah if we're going to support child care providers one of the things that we should help them understand is when do we have children who are in trauma how do we support children how do we create environments that don't retraumatization away from anti-racism into something that people across the aisle can get behind um my my third recommendation um recognizing that we do live in a very diverse space and there are going to be times when we are forced to talk about cultural differences simply just because of the nature of America to use a strength based model or an assets model um so one of the things I noticed when I read the um declarations was that they all started with the disparities list right where they listed all of the ways in which people of color had worse outcomes than white Americans when we lead with disempowering language we create policy and programs that continue to disempower and we often fail to recognize that groups that we would label as disadvantaged still have something to teach and we often fail to recognize that what we what we could consider to be a net loss so like for example if we thought about the mortality rate between black and white Americans right black Americans have a lower life expectancy than white Americans and that's often one of the leaders in our health disparities list right that's a net loss but we can also consider while considering the state of Black America and what it means to be black in America the fact that they are alive at all is amazing and they're living much longer than they used to and they've maintained a culture that is beautiful and quite frankly their culture is America's primary Global export right we can talk about Black Americans in an overwhelmingly negative light or we can choose to talk about Black Americans in an overwhelmingly positive life the way we speak about people dictates how we treat them I I studied Linguistics for for a while right how we what we call a thing and thing being now what we call a thing dictates how we treat it and so often when you look at Health disparities work the money always goes to the problem and we look up and we say well why haven't we closed the Gap sometimes we should think about putting the money into what is already working and allowing groups to continue to flourish and as I listened to the meeting from December um and and I and another speaker came on and talked about um the homeless population and the unhoused population one of the things I thought about were some of my colleagues who stud social networks and social bonding and familiar units in the homeless population we have to find a way to talk about people that we would consider disadvantaged in a way that highlights their strengths because that dictates the kinds of policy and programs that we create right and and then when you just think about it from basic psychology right like and I'll pick on Thea since I kind of sort of know Thea like if I want Thea to change just think of you like of yourself as a person if I lead with Thea you know you're kind of struggling on this point and that point you're not doing good over here and you're kind of lazy over there I want you to be empowered to change I mean that kind of deflates you just as an individual it deflates you so leading with that empowering language leading with a strength-based model looking for what's thriving in a population and and focusing there I think is it's it's it's not what typical Health disparities research does and I know because if you look at like my first couple of Publications all use that negative non assets model approach but I think an assets approach and the research suggests that that policy is more supportive of the populations it seeks to help um my fourth recommendation since I mentioned psychology and how we how we respond to things was to not forget about mental health I I I mentioned I'm a mental health scholar that is my passion that was sort of what drove me through my PhD you know I've been studying stratification and racism and inequality for over 15 years now and when I speak to people and when I reduce what people say down to its most common denominator and sort of take away the story and the cultural subtext when we talk about equity and racism in America most people just want others to see themselves in an ecosystem instead of in a high hierarchy they want to see increased empathy increased compassion for people who don't look like them they want them to be able to give of themselves even when sometimes it's a little bit of a sacrifice and it feels uncomfortable those are psychological habits right those come from a deeply rooted from our inner psychological self and so and and and I'm not saying that racism is not a structural problem and can be solved solely dealing with the individualistic inner psychology however we must remember that structures are made of people so when you want to change structures sometimes you got to help change people and addressing those psychological needs become important my suggestion always is to to partner I love employee Wellness programs there's some really interesting experimental ones happening that are focused on employee wellness and the focus on psychological well-being and the studies are extremely interesting I follow positive psychology coming out of harv and stfort so the Fortune 500 the SE Suite they're engaging in this mental health work and seeing what it does to productivity so of course the corporations are invested in it for its bottom line but there are also these other benefits that are happening in terms of just increased employee compassion increased employee empathy and then that trickles down into policy program and practice in the same vein I mentioned in the report that I wrote for for the clients to think about social emotional learning for K through 12 it is always excellent to invest in children um healed children become healed adults right when we teach children that we live in an ecosystem they grow up understanding and knowing that we live in an ecosystem and thus our preservation is connected to everyone else's um this is a frame of thinking um and and there are some great great great examples of this happening in New York and in lowincome environments that shows that not only is it not only does it create the results that we want but it's replicable and fundable right there's a lot of mindfulness studies coming out of the federal government as well well um and then my final suggestion was to just write all of this down so as I talk to stakeholders across the country I met so many people who are Reinventing the wheel um and doing various versions of this and and and they I was asking them questions and then the interview always turned back on me and they were like what is everybody else doing you know and I was like telling people in in Iowa what's happening in in Anchorage and telling people in Atlanta what's going on in Montana and I realized that there are one of the best parts about my job is that I get to meet the most amazing inspiring human beings on the planet and I get to serve them to the best of my ability um and one of the things that I've known I've learned about these people that I serve is that they tend to be very humble and not talk about what they do um which I get that but people need to know what you're doing people need to know your thought process and how you are figuring out that path a doesn't work and when path B does work and so thinking about sort of an autoethnographic approach just very detailed notetaking and thinking how do you make this public because I think there are or in my from my uh from my work I've learned there are so many people who are doing the work but are so overwhelmed by the magnitude of it and not knowing what to do first not knowing how to navigate doing Equity work in a red state in a red space in purple space not understanding how to partner with corporate Partners not knowing how to work through different strategies thinking it has to be critical race Theory or nothing not knowing that race theory is a spectrum there's critical race Theory there's interest Convergence Theory there's racial formations Theory we can do this thing differently and still get the same results my daddy used to say there's more than one way to skin a cat Zenobia so I you know documenting these things no matter what the process or product is I think there're so much value in that information and so that's um I wrote up 30 pages it's always funny I wrote 30 pages for them and and y'all get two so that's the um that's sort of the C and the summary of what I created for safe States um and i' I'd love to to hear y'all's thoughts and talk about it thank you thank you so much Cobia um so I wanted to invite zobia to come partly because uh we were one of the the folks that that's noi interviewed because Alaska passed um a resolution at the Alaska Public Health Association in 2020 that racism was a Public Health crisis and um Alaska Black Caucus really helped make that happen and so that was partly how um I originally met Zenobia was through that connection there um but I also thought that the results from the work that she did across the country that she just described to us would be informative as we go into our work session on Saturday and think about what how do we want to do this work I mean we've been a committee now I mean in this for we've been a committee for just over a year so October 2022 I think is when we formally began um and so I think it's really this you know just it's not it's not simple to figure out how do we do this how do we um what do you say eat the elephant or what's the word a time yeah so um so anyway I thought the the recommendations that Zenobia shared that are based on these experiences all around the country um might be useful to us as we go into that work session and just as we all do the work that we're trying to do in the community um because we all have tons of commitment and passion and um a fair bit of energy and say there's a fair bit of energy and commitment but we want to see results we want to do the work that's most effective and so how do how do we really do that together think it's something we're all trying to figure out so so with that what kinds of questions do you have for Zenobia maybe comments or thoughts that came up as you were listening I'll go first the theob app for those that don't know um the Alaska Black Caucus is about to host the fifth annual Betty Davis African-American Summit marching till Equity equality and justice is one and Zenobia is our keynote speaker at the luncheon coming to Anchorage in person and we'll um speak at our the health Forum that follows the luncheon immediately after that so you'll get a chance to hear more um from her but what I really appreciated in her talk today was reframing this is hard for me reframing the conversation because part of me is like why do I need to reframe you know to get you to buy into you know this re so I have to reframe the conversation for you to accept so so I was thinking of that as you were sharing but in order to get um them at the table to have that conversation that I can see that so thank you for that the noia you're welcome that was actually um I got not push back but that first uh recommendation I had to sell it I had to really so so the report there's a really big chunk where I write out why but you know I had a therapist one time ask me do you want to be happy or do you want to be right right and so one of the questions I pose to my clients is do you want to be effective or do you want to be right I'm not saying that this that you should have to right but what is your goal is your goal to push racism and anti-racism Theory or is your goal to increase the health of your population those are two different assignments each of them are great assignments and I'm hired to do whatever you want me to do right and so it's I think again it's not fair and it and it does require us to sort of right because I'm in my skin saying this right so I have to right but it's at the same time it's like but I know where I am and I know what I'm trying to get done right yeah but it was that was also that was my um you're not the first person to respond that way so fair enough but I appreciated the the um the information and I'm looking forward to February L thanks I would say thank you Zenobia for your sharing on on today and relative to what the was mentioning a minute ago about takeaways as far as the work we do and how it could be applicable uh in our situation circumstan and what have you uh I there are some takeaways that I took that were interwoven throughout your whole discourse and uh one well a few of them is the fact that language you know used from the top down is most important how you utilize the language how you as you say frame uh the issues uh uh a lot of this was supposed to be centered around uh racism and the health you know uh crisis and how it affects that iny violence perspec prevention and all of that uh but addressing inequities uh without specifically addressing or targeting racism per se in terminology that goes straight to racism but yes but yet addressing the inequities without just diving into that and and I see that all the way through your discourse and relative to all of that is how you speak to persons or how you speak to situations is a big difference maker and uh I caught those that were inol throughout all your discourse and I I guess that goes to what uh Mr Les was said a minute ago sometimes that comes hard for people of color you know look like me and that kind of thing because you want to go straight to the it of it uh the Crux of it but the bottom line is how you frame it is important and if you can get your point ac across and addressing inequities uh without always pulling the race card uh then then it might be beneficial yeah and and I think that speaks to much of what we are about relative to this uh committee uh so um I I really appreciate what you have shared and it's it's really a hard pill to swallow for me personally um and I um and I agree with you because when I work one-on-one with people I understand you got to meet people where they are and that's the only way that you can help move them but when you're we're in this in doing this work when we're asked to do Equity work and we're trying to speak in and just like you were sharing about being positive saying you know intentionally underresourced communities intentionally excluded communities those exclusions mainly happen because of race or class issues and so if we're going to navigate and thread that needle um how do we not hold the communities responsible with that you sort of negative speak which we're working really hard at my agency to not use but also not address that the reasons that they have been underresourced intentionally left out all of the all of the barriers barriers put in place with red lining and you know I mean I could go down a list that you are well aware of so I don't need to do that but but how do you how do you really thread that needle when you're trying to work in that space yeah so I so I think so I agree with how hard it is right again I'm in this skin doing this work so I agree about the pill that's hard to swallow even before I wrote the report I had to like take a break and just deal with the emotional labor of what I had to write um but I you said something really important that I talked with my clients about holding people responsible and accountable you have to have power to hold somebody responsible and accountable that's a power Dynamic there right it's hard to hold someone responsible and accountable if they hold all of the resources you have no and if you don't then like you have nothing there so it's it so when we think about holding people accountable we have to be mindful of the power dynamic in which we are working because you cannot hold a group accountable or a power structure accountable and then say and we need a quarter of a million dollars can I please have half a million dollars it doesn't work that way and if I mean just look at how the funding mechanisms work right it doesn't work that way so it's not right it's not desirable and we can have it the question is about the ethics of it and should we have to do it but we are living in a power structure built on race and economics right and America is not really she's given us always say this 400 years of evidence that she is going to play games when it comes to race and she's going to you know throw the Rock and hide the hand now economics she's a little bit more willing to to make some conversations especially when we think about these sort of cross racial um coalitions and and sometimes it's about biting that bullet and thinking I need to get it done because I am going to come around and ask for a quarter of a million dollars I am going to come back and ask for you know these these certain things so I mean how do we do the work for myself I I can't tell other people how to do it I struggle sometimes with folks right I live in the South and I live in a rural town where they fly the Confederate flag everywhere so I drive past you know the bars and the Stars everywhere that's it's hard right it's not it's not easy um and I teach in this environment and they don't agree with me about what those flags mean what the statues mean I have to realize that different groups of people can hold the exact same set of facts and come out with different conclusions and that no matter how much I convince them or try to convince them that my story is the true story that they have every right to say I hear you Zenobia and I disagree the same way that I wouldn't consider that rebel flag to just be Southern Pride right and once I can accept that we are just not going to agree on this we can get down to business which is really what I want is this policy changed money put into this school this infrastructure done and one of the things I mentioned in the report is there is a theoretical underpinning to this so Derek Bell talks about interest Convergence Theory so this is different than critical race theory that comes out of um out of UCLA atory black power right Derek Bell argues that any benefits or any growth or or civil rights given to minority populations in the United States has always converged with the interest of the dominant majority right so the Civil Rights Movement wasn't about America getting a moral compass and deciding to be good to Black Americans it just looked really horrible for white kids to be getting treated so horribly in Selma especially when America was trying to be a global babysitter and tell other people how to behave the same thing with the freeing of the enslaved this was not about like abolitionist finally winning and saying see we told you that they're human beings it was in the best interest of Northern white power structures to free this group of people so when you look at the evidence right America doesn't make decisions based on morality America makes decisions based on what supports her economic power structure so if you understand that then you don't engage her with a moral argument she's not going to talk to you in that way you've got to speak to her in the language in which she engages which is money as it converges with all of these issues impacting these bipod populations also impact 40% of white Americans and you know you don't want us Building Bridges so get it together right now that's when you hold them accountable and quite frankly that's when the Black Power movement became the most lethal and the most dangerous when those bridges were built around economics so is it easy no is it fair no but there's a theoretical and I think there's evidence to suggest it's one of the most effective ways to get this nation to move does that make sense is that helpful I know you probably still don't agree and I totally economic D yes no I totally um this is Lori who have asked the question earlier um I I completely understand what you are saying and I see the value in it and I Know It And I've been working in that system and and um and I really appreciate it I mean this has been really powerful for me because I work a lot in the space and you're blowing my mind a little bit so that's new for me lately so thank you P had her hand up and then so did Asher great um sorry who was the first person P oh great P you're here go ahead P hello Zenobia we don't know each other but I look forward to meeting continue because your um fourth recommendation um in your key recommendations is the foundation for my doctoral journey I will be defending my dissertation in March yes ma'am and it is about um addressing structural interventions to address mental health disparities in bipo populations and Anchorage so it's it's a safe space for people because everybody now is is about adolescent mental health and future Capital etc etc so we we can we can get to Rome we may take two different roads but we we can get there so um I look forward to meeting with you thank you congratulations good for you Hannah's also a longtime school nurse here at one of our big high schools so um who is the other person I'm sorry I can't see the raised hands from here here just Asher oh great Asher go ahead hey hey um I just wanted to say that I just found myself uh you know nodding along in agreement with a lot of what you said uh Zenobia um I agree with I think everybody who's mentioned it that it is a difficult pill to swallow for uh marginalized communities to not be able to um have people at least recognize um the the past and what what what that has led to um I would say that I think like some other issues you know as a it's not for a white guy like me who gets to make that decision um so I think that the decision can ultimately be made by um black and brown communities if they say I am willing to swallow that pill and in order to get the results that we want because you're right when you talk about race we are Alo talking about social economics and so um if the end goal is ultimately we want to see less disparity based on um skin color based on race based on ethnicity then and and the marginalized communi say yes I am willing to take this route then it seems like a like a good approach to me that will um help and get the results that we want I have a comment but who else is in line may you well I did you know I think as could it could it be that to some degree uh the the discourse you utilize would be relative and by that I mean this there are certain circumstances and situations where uh to a degree what what I'm hearing uh uh is you have to go at it covertly and uh to get to what it is you want to get to uh but then uh by the relativity of it there are some situations where uh your best Motors operandi would be hitting head off I mean everything is it's situational right I was working for a National Organization so I'm I'm helping them think about meeting National needs if you're in like a Portland OR in Atlanta or a Philly you know you may be able to just hit it on the head because you're going to have support from people no matter what skin color they have you know I think it is situational where I come I'm from North Philadelphia we call it finesse you know you have to be able to read the room and and um and know how to speak to the room I think the issue with racism so one of the things I did for this reps I sort of just did a little uh uh like a temperature Tech temperature check on the state of just the perspective of racism in this country what's interesting is the growing black and bipot conservative movement that is joining the white conservative movement and its push Back Against Racism and anti-racism so there there's there is this assumption that if you have melanated skin you have these same monolithic ideas about racism and its presence from the historical to the Contemporary and the growing the growing bipod but the particularly growing black conservative movement it it's showing that even in Black communities it's fractured so even in Liberal spaces where you may think well there are predominantly black folks here they're going to be on the bandwagon and a lot of predominant black spaces in the South they were the 's pushing no critical race theory in the schools right black families were saying we don't believe in this it's not holding us back we don't want this taught so it's it's a lot more nuanced than I even thought about going in right which is why you can't even assume when when we go into a room that who's in the room is who's in the room right and then as again as a race scholar who studied linguistics when we talk about race and racism most of us like if I say zebra we all picture probably the same thing when I say race and racism who knows what's in people's minds so the first thing you have to do is start defining right and getting language but nobody has time for that in the scrolling 30 second attention span so it it just becomes and this is me thinking as a professor right as someone who had 17 weeks and 90 minutes to get 12 20 some people on the bandwagon and let's do right sometimes I'm all about I like to be efficient I like to be efficient and I like to be effective and sometimes what's right or what we appraised to be what is right the principle can get in the way of the process sometimes the principle gets in the way of the process sometimes the principle gets in the way of the product and so my suggestion only is to really appraise your landscape and think about what is the most effective and efficient way for me to get from point A to point B right and that will look different for Anchorage compared to a Detroit but I think before we jump in and do the work we should really be clear about that socio cultural political landscape because we can sometimes shoot ourselves in the foot by Leading with the principal right well maybe we should just lead with the product what we really want is half a million dollars in green spaces right that may be more effective than starting with 400 years ago right starting with the 1619 project the 1619 project is valuable is it always helpful is was the question I was was Raising in the report so yeah situational for sure thank you um maybe I'll just share my comment question and then I think there was one other person and then we probably have to move to our our other Enda items but um no no no no no okay anyway okay this is the I so I just thinking this discussion thinking about what we're sharing here um um I guess one of the things that I am constantly trying to do in this this work is as as a white person as really a member of the the country that really colonized the crap out of the whole world um which is England which is you know where I came from to come to here on Den land is and as the as we kind of come together as the group group we are and all the different groups that we're part of working towards equity which at our work session last year Pastor May um I think gave a really kind of sort of Zenobia esque definition in a way because it's very practical you said it's equal opportunity predicated on equal resources and so it it doesn't you know mess around like it's just saying like do we all have the same opportunity are we all afforded the same resources if not we're not living in an equitable Community yet we have work to do right so what's my role in that in that conversation well I think what I think what I'm thinking about is as we're having this conversation is that when we talk about racism we we have to I think when we have those conversations the we have to like like as a white person I have to own that I have to be like yeah those were my people like we did that for hundreds of years and we're still benefiting and I'm still benefiting from it personally you know like my personal life today I benefit right my children benefit so and that's I think in in the culture that I grew up in that tends to create this feeling of Shame and guilt and then you kind of shut down like that's that's the culture that I grew you know it's not about like okay well what can we do next it's like ah that feels awful like I'm done right and so where do you go with that where I want to go is to what I think we're doing here and and what I when I read Martin Luther King what I think he's saying which is we have to work together like we have to work together there isn't a way to do this without working together and I also think of that as about Wilkerson um quote that I know we've talked about here where it's like we don't know who built the house but we're all living in the house now and it's got this cracked foundation and the the paints coming off the walls and like we all have to work on that right so I guess kind of that's what I'm hearing in our conversation today is how do we how do we how do we find the places where we really can bring our like true selves our full selves together to do this work and what's the what's the best way to do that I guess that's what I hear you saying it's not like like you said we all can have a lot of Rich conversation about how we got here and we should have those conversations but in a way those are like maybe we have those conversations I guess maybe that's my question where do we where do we have those conversations where do we talk about racism and then when when and where do we talk about you know okay gosh we've got I just looked at this yesterday 40% of households in Anchorage where it's a female head of household and there's children children under the age of five 40% of those families are living in poverty like if that isn't a disparity what it is you know so like how do we get how do we how do we decide when we talk about which and and what we do in which spaces I think that's kind of our question yeah and and and let me say that conversation in it of itself can be very divisive uh I was part of a group that uh uh dealt with race reconciliation and just and we invited a whole bunch of different cultures in and specifically uh the Caucasian uh race and all of that and when you get to we open the whole thing by sharing personal experiences and and we're at the vantage point where everybody was coming from who were at the table and uh you know when everybody shares uh there was not really the issue you know uh when when ethnic is shared be Caucasian other ethnicities what have you but when you begin to share your personal experiences lived experiences and all of that uh then from that very first week on the crowd was diluted and uh and the more you Del into it the more the crowd diluted uh you know because there was certain things that certain people didn't want to embrace didn't want didn't really want to hear about you know know uh as far as celest was saying and Zenobia you know when you look like men you start talking about if we're going to be transparent at the table you say when do we talk about it sometimes it's good and sometimes it isn't you know when you start talking about your experience of uh seeing plansman open up a trunk in your neighborhood as as a kid jump out with hoods and shotguns and you talk about having to be in the first group of people that uh were bust and it ation when there nine of us had to get off the bus literally fighting just to get into the building and those that were supposed to be on guard wasn't doing anything about it that kind of thing and uh when you grown up from a kid and seeing uh different restrooms and uh going uh to a fountain and you can't go in and sit at the bar and all you know when you have those kinds of experiences everybody don't want to hear about that you know and it's divisive and so when you come from a space like that you know and you get to hearing what we're hearing today of of kind of which we who have wanted to make Collective change has kind of had to operate in that space that she's talking about sometimes you have to go ahead and ctly to accomplish what you want but when you openly espouse where you've come from and what you've witnessed and experienced uh everybody's not able to handle that you know and so sometimes you hold back on your experiences and just deal with what you need to deal with in IMM medy yeah you you don't speak to your point yeah yeah so tof's had her hand but I just want to recognize her tofy go ahead thank you thank you um sopia thank you very much for this presentation I I think um um I think this this reminds me of like um of like um like Pro Palestine does not necessarily mean anti-israel right like I think it's the polarization like very often right it continues to be like like people don't think of things as like in a spectrum right and and just because you're protr does not mean you're antiy right in in LGBT um movements and so like I think I think your um your presentation today will help us as we move forward in creating what we need to focus on in this team right that we're like we understand what um you know who's in power and what they have control over and how can we create narratives or um I guess ask in a way that it's like heard right and then and of course there is going to be time where when we need to talk about RAC and we have to talk about it right and and just speak the truth into what's happening but like there are times where we have to like give and take white it's it's negotiation right and so I I feel like that's what you were I mean that's what I would take back like you know how very often people talk about pro- faith um means that you're anti-spiritual right but that's not true right and so like it's very important like I I feel I I really appreciated your your um your your presentation because it reminds me of like this dichotomy that tends to be there all the time and people think in dichotomy and and it just continues to keep us separated from each other instead of trying to come together so but yeah that's what I wanted to do thank you thank you thank you so much for saying that so just for some context on who I am I am a earth like Earth hippie super optimistic loving person I love this country this is is our home and I love y'all right like that's why I am driven by love and I'm driven by conscience um and as a professor I watched the dichotomies happen for for a very long time and we often lose the US in the conversation um and and we lose that shared Humanity one of the things that I um want I just want to sort of just hearing from Pastor May and hearing from you tofe healed people can canot have healthy convers or unhealed people cannot have um it's getting late over on this side of town people cannot have health conversation right so it's hard to come to a conversation as sensitive as race if you don't have empathy for yourself or others sometimes we're starting at step 20 when we need to be at step one some people don't even know how to hear right so I learned that when I was a professor I had to First teach my 20 and 25 year old babies just how to listen how to actively listen and how to engage with something that you don't like they didn't know how to do it most of us don't have that skill set so we want to jump into a conversation and and and then two thinking about you know melanated people I one time had some students black young women say they didn't understand White Privilege how can white people not get it and we did an activity about American privilege right when we leave the us we're not black Americans we're Americans right now let's look at how our our practices and how our purchasing habits and how our voting right how we become the white people for various other societies across the globe now how much of that privilege are you willing to give up and then they're like okay so now we're not as upset right it's these activities in empathy and understanding I think in general that life is hard that we all got here and inherited a whole bunch of stuff that we didn't want and that navigating that and unpacking it is a lifelong journey and sometimes you just have to give somebody the benefit of the doubt that even if their best is not good enough for you it's their best yeah we can still get some something done right and and to your point tofe that me if we support this one thing it doesn't mean we are against everything else it means that we are for this I'm a mother I need America to be here for the next couple of generations you know what I'm saying I need her to be here and I need her to be well um and so trying to do this work in a way that is not about twisting somebody's arm and getting them to you know admit that they were wrong or it's about finding that common ground and being able to move forward you know again I'm a researcher I'm a teacher that's what I learned you have to do um and so I'm glad that you picked that up in my work thank you for saying that love is the key yep okay this has been fantastically fabulous thank you Zenobia and it is super exciting that ABC is going to be bringing Zenobia up on February 10th Betty Davis e St brige High School I think we'll be there 10 to three is that right Cel 9 to five oh 9 to five okay cool it's getting bigger that's great yeah that's awesome so February 10th um andovia thank you so much for being here we really appreciate it and you're welcome to stay um and you're also welcome to go because I know it's late for you so but we'd love to have you if you want to stay so absolute pleasure thank you great okay me find the correct agenda spread all over it all right okay I think we're back to committee updates um Lori do you want to um yeah I had a couple things and I don't I'm sorry I had couple things and I don't want to dominate the time but um I would like some some to request from the municipality some guidance on the roof removal of snow I'm I'm hearing that you know many people are being at you know was came out in the daily news that it's a good time to remove the snow but the communications that are coming out about that are very unclear um and also there's nothing coupled with it for people who might really fall into the risky homes or any research being done on who are in the risky homes many of the people that that um uh we work with on a regular basis if they purchase their own home they tend to be older homes in some of the other neighborhoods and might not have the capacity to clean a roof or understand how critical it is and I'm not seeing any good communication about that and about resources and and what to do so um that's just sort of a personal request can I add to that a bit Lori um the other request I would have is if there's guidance for landlords we have a community where a lot of landlords pray on um tenants with low income and there hasn't been a lot of guidance released for um or requirements for landlords for those properties too and those are I'm concerned about a lot of this um can we just give Felix maybe a chance to respond if there's anything going on that fix that you're aware of um or anything like would you direct these uh questions to a particular person or place or is it something the assembly will consider yeah thanks so um I do not really have any new information I just know what's been put out publicly um is there anyone from the administration in the room no Junior's not here today okay then yeah these are things that I would have to take to the administration to um build Communications around and I'm happy to be that conduit that's great thank you Felix L was there another item there is um there's one other one that's really critical and then and then more if everybody gets to go and we still want to hear from me but the next one is that um a lot of work has been done um Statewide on digital Equity we've got the digital Equity plan and part of really pushing all that information out but signing people up for the affordable connectivity program which is about two months from not having funding and there's a lot of a lack of clarity for me and even when other people on on our team have reached out what I'm most concerned about was that we were asked to put a lot of effort into helping people sign up for this plan and then it becomes provider specific on how the plan ends and what could happen is that people just lose that connectivity plan and then start to get bills from the provider at the full rate and there's no requirement as far as we know that providers have to stop providing that because they did sign up for the plan um and and I need um we this is a national issue and it could be all of a sudden it gets funded but if it does not then we will be losing the trust of people that we were really asked to help with this um plan and it infects the entire State and so I'm just putting it out there because it's just a a situation I don't know how to even give communication around and don't understand what's happening Lori where's the funding from feds but is it coming through the state or it it it goes from the feds to the provider so people like apply with who we've been working with is primarily GCI and so um I I don't see any guidance on gc's website don't really know um who I need to reach out to and also just spreading the word because it could be you know the school districts helped individuals apply for that so that their kids could have access to the internet and you know there's been a whole whole team and communication gone around to help people apply for that throughout the whole state and what happens if it ends fix do you do you have any idea sorry can you restate that question do you know what's happening with the potential ending in a couple months of the internet connectivity plan where everybody gets a certain amount per month to access the internet if they qualify such as you know I think it's like $60 or $70 a month right um yeah the assembly hasn't been briefed on that issue anyone else on the committee know anything or have any leads so this is Teresa I'll I'll ask our folks at National um and see if I can get any information Lor is that the one that um went also through the rason foundation so the rasmon foundation is the one that hosted doing the digital Equity plan um and they're finished with that they're no longer they're done funding it the plan's been created the comment period is over um but it was through that plan providers were pulled together that were really pushing for for this process to happen okay so they were kind of like the but but after but after the raskins completed that process there's a standup group now that is still in existence that probably can respond to your question and I would contact the rason foundation to find out exactly who that uh organization is or that group is and then just go from there thanks any other Committee Member updates so I'll go next um so uh for those that don't know February is Black History Month and there's going to be a large number of activities and programs and projects that are occurring I would just really love to see some of my people here at some of the activities and programs and events that the Alaska Black Caucus is hosting especially the Betty Davis africanamerican Summit on February the 10th um and again it's from 9: to 5 the theme marching till Equity equality and justice is one thank you great thank you celest any other committee updates I see someone in the chat who's that Asher just said he we at the summit oh great good that's awesome Asher any other updates I'll throw just a couple things then yeah go ahead um I I would like him finding it I can't find it on the website but I just heard that might be interesting to this committee um uh the advocacy day training by the um I think it's it it was Owen that shared it so it might be the um Coalition and homelessness that's putting it on and I I missed I I heard about it briefly and I can't find it so if somebody wants to give an update on that um and also thank you so much to Pastor May um and Brenda from Alaska Black Caucus for standing up with with us to receive the healing racism Day from the assembly um that was an example where I think there was a lot of good intention but it was a bit of an uncomfortable reading there based on the way the audience felt about hearing um that was a feedback I got anyway it was pretty clearly calling out the systems and the and the racism that exists in the community and way in which assembly members needed to vote against it yeah I I just want to add to that I um I was shocked honestly well maybe not shocked but I was taken back by the fact that we did have two assembly members that did not support the resolution and I don't understand why um but maybe just U some of what IIA Shar speaks to it it's very unfortunate Taylor I was just going to say I have that invite and I'll send it to you and it's put on by the I'll send it to the um to the group to send out and it's put on by the Anchorage Coalition and the balance estate Coalition thank you yeah okay how about oops okay how about assembly updates Felix is there any items you want to bring to the committee yeah sure uh so just a few things from me um let's see you already talked about that um so quick updates on the port of Alaska so there's uh as it has been usual there's two things for the board for folks to keep in mind um as the Port of Alaska modernization project continues first is the funding piece the assembly will uh next month uh be looking at the possibility of authorizing um our chief fiscal officer to um have authorization of $400 million in revenue bonds um to move the project forward and so that's a big Financial step that we are going to be looking at and then we're getting closer and closer to final design for the current phase of the pamp that we are in specifically regarding terminals one and two um so those things are moving forward um just because it came up at the last last committee meeting just to keep you all in the loop the assembly did uh end up voting uh with regard to the DA young recommendations around the port uh to rename the port of Alaska the Don Young Court of Alaska um the assembly has just finished its process regarding bonds and ballot propositions so there's a whole variety of different bonds and ballot propositions that folks will be able to vote on in April I think two of note for this committee um one is a uh restroom related uh proposition called Anchorage goes uh very snarky whoever came with that and um it's essentially a a proposition to get set up 10 Portland L style which is the um definitive term there um restroom public restrooms around the municipality and I think it's something that we've talked about a lot is the lack of public restrooms in the municipality on our Trail hoods Etc so that'll be uh something for the voters to to vote on and then there's also a ballot proposition a change to our Municipal Charter to require the confirmation of the chief medical officer and currently that's not a um assembly confirmation position it is a mayoral appointment position um so that's something that we need to uh send to the voters to see if they're okay with changing that and requiring the um assembly approval of that uh couple housing things uh the assembly recently approved $1.5 million in alcohol tax um for the uh Next Step pilot program which is an aggressive effort to house 150 individuals and provide them with supports um by April 30th so excited for that work to to um continue because it really started in December um and then we have also taken some efforts regarding thre plexes and fourplexes to make them easier to build and less expensive to build so that we can maybe get more of that missing middle housing more dense housing and then we're also considering looking at uh short-term rental regulations um and mainly a lure requirement uh just to get a sense of short-term rentals and impacts that they are having on our market last thing I'll mention is um the accut river restoration so the assembly recently put it into Municipal Code that it is the policy of the municipality that we are in support of a full restoration of the clua river and that is going to become I think a hotly debated topic soon uh because the essentially The Proposal that um others have put forward that that will eventually get sent to the governor who will make the decision uh is that all but the last mile of the occluded River will be restored and uh we want everything to be restored uh on the assembly and so we put that into our code as our official policy and also into our legislative program um that is it happy to take any questions sorry Felix I I know that that you're well aware of this but I just would like to state that it's so hard to testify at assembly meetings and this last Tuesday I I really felt for people who didn't know if they should or shouldn't testify and people who are unhoused living in their car that I know wanted to speak on the gwood and and just want to be heard and anything that this committee could do to help support as Equitable opportunities for people to be heard at assembly meetings I know this one was particularly rough but it was really hard to watch thanks um that is just so we know that is something that's in our annual plan from last year so when we get to our rec session this weekend um that's something we could talk about I mean I'm sure there are things our committee could do to help um for example we could have kind of a Roa of us willing to go you know be that with people so anyway and probably there's other more important more impactful things we could do too so Felix I'm curious about um how outcomes from some of these would or are tracked especially when it comes to Equitable outcomes so it feels um it feels like probably the Anchorage goes project would increase you know restroom access for um all communities but especially more Equitable access and then as well as for the housing outcomes I'm curious about the um concern for equity in those as well yeah thanks so for the um restroom one there's actually um there was funded a study that I think should be ongoing um to look at the gaps in um accessibility to restrooms which is really a municipal wide issue um and determine what are the best locations for possible public restrooms if they were to be stood up um that would uh most help to meet the those gaps and so that is a study that is ongoing and then with regard to The Next Step initiative uh so the next step initiative is they are very going to be a very data and Metric uh in U focused initiative and their data comes from akis and akm has a lot of uh demographic uh information uh that we can use um and we're going to get regular reports on next step and who's being housed how that's all working um but essentially the way that the program is going to work is that uh the folks who are staying at the Alex hotel which is one of our uh three major emergency cold weather shelter sites um they will be housed through the next step program and um it's just been determined by the all of the partners that that is the population that we want to house um and that particular having uh watched through and and met several the residents in the Alex hotel and really in all of our locations um the the uh population uh experiencing homelessness and and particularly the ones who take advantage of emergency cold weather shelter um I think do tend to be probably more representative of our community um uh do tend to be members of the bipot community um so you know my sense is that the folks who will benefit most from this are probably going to be the folks who who will need it the most um I think what's going to be the big question for me is how this is going to be replicated and used in the future when we don't have emergency cold weather shelter and when we have camps um uh that are going to be standing up in April or May whenever that happens um how we can make sure that those individuals get access to whatever future housing resources come online and that's going to be I think a big issue that I hope we tackle thank you for that um I'm excited to see those results last I checked that Alex was about 60% white which is not super reflective of the EXP people experiencing homelessness so I'm hopeful that's not the case for those being housed and excited to hear more great um we're almost out of time I just want to check and see if is there any audience participation okay hearing none um we are meeting on I'm sorry go ahead this is Teresa I I thought of one thing that I I'm sure I'm not sure everybody knows but um the senior longevity bonus or senior longevity uh payments that seniors get um who are low moderately low and low income um that program is um due to Sunset and so it's one of the things that um AARP is going down in a couple weeks to talk with legislators about but it affects 9,000 seniors in Alaska um so it's our most low income and then all under Federal po guidelines income low income so um if you have seniors in that who are getting that payment um we may need them to talk with their legislators this year and they get between um 75 to 250 a month so it's a significant a part of their income great thanks Teresa um just two other opportunities to engage the child care um fund we had Trevor and um anyway Trevor and his associate were here in December Nora sorry Nora Nora that's right thank you so much yeah Trevor and Nora were here there's a number of opportunities to give your input as well as a survey um they'll be able to make it Monday Forum if anyone goes to that at the chamber but I think they're looking for input and and i i f out the survey recently I would really uh encourage you to do that and also the alcohol tax is um we're my company I back is working with a steering committee to develop a a strategic plan for spending of the alcohol tax and we're just about to start uh the kind of community engagement piece uh I'm pretty sure there'll be an opportunity to give your input at the bet Davis summit we're kind of working with celest on that and um toffee also has a community event coming up so anyway there'll be opportunities for that so I'll keep you posted as those get set um and don't forget to come we're meeting right here right yep yes do you want to extend real quick so you can approve the agenda great okay yeah let's is there any objection to extending for five minutes might not take that long okay no hearing then okay so we have an agenda for um Saturday we'll be here also on teams 10: a.m. to 2 p.m. um pretty simple agenda just looking at our um 2023 annual plan and kind of selecting from there our priorities for this year as well as looking at the other pieces of it and seeing if we want to add or change anything um is there any changes or additions to that agenda that anyone wants to make okay hearing none um is there any objection to us approving this agenda great hearing then okay so this is our agenda for Saturday I know not everyone can make it but even if you can pop in by teams for part of it that would be great but we'll look for um those of you who can make it to come here 10: a.m. on Saturday we didn't make any arrangement for food or anything so if anybody wants to bring some snacks feel free I'll try to do that too um and I'm looking forward to it anything else for the go to the order go to the order okay if there's no objection we're all right thanks