HomeMy WebLinkAboutEquity Anti-Racism Advisory Committee Minutes - 2023-10-26EQUITY & ANTI-RACISM ADVISORY COMMITTEE MINUTES October 26, 2023 CITY OF KITCHENER The Equity & Anti-Racism Advisory Committee met electronically this date, commencing at 5:30 p.m. Present: Veronica Vasquez (Co-Chair), Saba Oji (Co-Chair), Ann Marie Beals, Avni Adams, Ayesha Munir, Fiorella Benini, Oluseun Olayinka, Rida Rahman Absent: Danny Martin, Paul Okoye Staff: Rea Parchment, Committee Staff Liaison Amanda Drumond, Committee Administrator 1. CHECK-IN AND APPROVAL OF PREVIOUS MEETING MINUTES V. Vasquez convened the meeting. The minutes were approved as distributed. 2. DISCLOSURE OF PECUNIARY INTEREST AND THE GENERAL NATURE THEREOF - NIL 3. CoK R. Parchment shared good news updates with the committee on the work of the City related to EDI, highlights included: the City of Kitchener recently finished hosting two grant writing workshops in October and had record attendance, saw the highest attendance and engagement to-date, received lots of positive feedback, workshops were facilitated by Kind Minds Family Wellness and city staff. 4. DECISION.IO REFRESHER AMANDA DRUMOND A. Drumond, Committee Administrator, provided Decision.io training to the RISE Fund grant selection committee via a PowerPoint presentation. The training allowed committee members to re-familiarize themselves with the software for individual and group review of the RISE Fund grant applications in November. Topics covered were an overview of Decision.io; RISE Fund grant application timeline; step-by-step instructions for reviewing and rating applications; and conflict of interest. Question was raised about dividing the total number of grant applications received among the committee members for review; committee members agreed to further discussion about dividing the grant applications among the committee members based on total number received. 5. RISE FUND RUBRIC CREATION V. Vasquez and S. Oji led the continued discussion with committee members about the creation of a scoring rubric for use when evaluating RISE Fund grant applications. R. Parchment shared a draft rubric with the committee via email that was created Committee members shared feedback and suggestions on various criterion to include in the rubric. BREAK 6:42-6:47pm 1 EQUITY & ANTI-RACISM ADVISORY COMMITTEE MINUTES October 26, 2023 CITY OF KITCHENER 6. RISE FUND RUBRIC CREATION, Committee members agreed to include the following criterion on the scoring rubric to be used during review and assessment of RISE Fund grant applications: - Feasibility - Creativity - Needs justification - Cultural impact - Capacity building Suggestion was made to include a reminder that not all criteria may be applicable, and committee members should use discretion when reviewing applications; spelling, grammar and vernacular should not be factored into scoring; applicants that have secured additional funding beyond the RISE Fund should not be negatively impacted/scored. Suggestion was made to have a summary showing the demographics of all applications received for the final group discussion. At this time, it was asked that committee members consider how many applications received will determine how many individual applications to be reviewed by each committee member; recommendation was made to divide applications in half among the committee members if more than 30 applications are received. Committee members supported the recommendation, and a vote was requested. On motion by A.M. Beals, and seconded by O. Olayinka, it was resolved: that if the total number of eligible RISE Fund grant applications received for an application intake period reaches 31 or more, the total applications will be divided among the committee members so that each person will review half of the total applications received. R. Parchment will circulate the draft rubric to the group to be approved via email before the selection committee begins their independent review of applications on November 13. 7. CALL FOR AGENDA ITEMS, STAFF REPORTS & GENERAL DISCUSSION November agenda items: RISE Fund grant application group evaluations 8. ADJOURNMENT The meeting adjourned at 7:21 pm. A. Drumond Committee Administrator 2