 Excellent. Can I just ask, can everybody hear me? Oh, I can hear you. Yeah. Are you having trouble, Alexis? Not anymore. Thank you. Okay. All right. So I am going to call to order the Thursday, February 3rd meeting of the African heritage preparation assembly pursuant to chapter 20 of the acts of 2021. This meeting will be conducted via remote means. Members of the public who wish to access the meeting may do so via Zoom or by telephone. No in-person attendance of members of the public will be permitted, but every effort will be made to ensure that the public can adequately access the proceedings in real time via technological means. Can I just have a time, please? Yes. 634. And I think it's a good practice to make sure that we can all be heard. So let's just, I'll call your name on mute and just say that you're here and we'll make sure that we can hear you. So let's start with you, Alexis. Read present. Great. Dr. Shabazz. We'll come back to him. Hala. Lord present. Excellent. And Irv. Irv is here. Great. Jennifer. We heard, we could hear you. You're good. And Dr. Shabazz is, it looks like he's in the middle of something. So we'll come back to him. All right. So we have a packed agenda tonight. And so we're going to do our best to get through as much of it as we can. Did, did anyone hear from Yvonne? All right. So let's just. Go ahead and pull it up. So if we just want to take a moment to reflect quickly on our, our meeting etiquette, the ropes. It feels like a long time ago now that we. That we first saw the ropes. And I think. I'm so. Let's see here. Actually. Do you want to open up for public comment first? Yes, I absolutely do. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Yes. So we're going to open up for our first public comment period. And so since we do have some attendees, I'm going to go ahead and read the public comment statement. During the public comment period, one of the co-chairs will recognize members of the public. When called on, and there's no co-chairs, the chair will recognize members of the public. When called on, please identify yourself by stating your full name, preferred pronouns. If you don't have a full name, you may not be able to make that out. So pronouns and residential address residents are welcome to express their views for up to three minutes at the discretion of the chair based upon the number of people who wish to speak. No speaker can see their time to another speaker. The HRA will not engage in a dialogue or comment on a matter raised during public comment. So if you'd like to make a public comment, please use the raise hand function. And I will unmute you. All right. Seeing none. We can go ahead and move into our agenda. And Jennifer, we don't have any minutes to approve tonight. Is that right? No. Great. All right. So. Between, since the last time we met, there's been sort of a lot of things happening, different meetings that have occurred. And some of what we have on the agenda tonight is. Very connected. So I think what I want to do is start with an update on the black census and the harm report. And we can, I'll explain a little bit more about what has happened. I'm going to go back to what we last met. So. The Dunne Hue Institute, as you know, has given us a scope of work. For to produce. Geographic. Data. And. In reviewing that scope of work with Dr. Dr. Dr. We recognize that there might be an opportunity to expand the scope of the work. To not only include the geographic information, but to also include demographic information that would help us with our disparity. Piece of things. So it's a lot of work that we're doing, but it's also a lot of work that we're doing to keep this town manager. Backelman. In which. We talked about the possibility of expanding the scope of work and what that might look like and what they can and can't do. And the outcome of that meeting was that that this body. Should decide what it is. We want as, as Irv said, a final product. come back to the Dunning-Hugh Institute and ask for them to rework the proposal and the scope of work. They did send us some really interesting imagery, visualization that I'd like to bring up. I'm going to share the screen. But before I do that, I want to check with Irv and Dr. Shabazz because they were both involved in those conversations to see if I've missed anything or if something should be added before I go ahead and pull that up. I think that, you know, that which was shared today that you have, that that was similar to what I had shared before that they had presented in a couple of meetings with them. Anyway, the bottom line is for us is to decide what product we want to end up with and where that product is going to take us. It was a great meeting that they're a really skillful group and they definitely can deliver on the kinds of things that we need. The other thing is that in terms of the budget, I just want to remind people that we were at around $65 to $6,900 in the original budget for the Black Census. And this is almost where we are right now. The present proposal, I think, is around $3,500. But anyway, in other words, there is room to move on, on expanding this if we so desire. Yeah, so I just, I'm going to bring these up really quick. And I think Irv is correct that he shared these with us in an email. But for me, to see them on the screen today in the meeting was really impactful. And so let me just see what I can do here. Here we go. It's really neat. And Irv, I'll ask you or Dr. Shabazz, I think Irv, you've already seen this. So maybe it would be best you could talk about this. So sort of the broadest way that we can look at this is by tracks. And I'm just about to share my screen here. I have it pulled up now. Can you all see that? Great. So Irv, do you want to just sort of describe what it is that I'm showing here? Right. I mean, these are census tracks. Now, these are the smallest level of detail that is available to get meeting out of the numbers are the census blocks. And you will see those come up embedded in all of this data. When I was first asked, well, where are black people or those who identify as blacks? Where are they living? So the first cut of that data that they provided took it down to the block level. This is the block level. That was a block group that I just had up. And as Irv says, this is the most narrowly defined that they can. And I think that what I should do is send back out that certain information again, because they gave some initial indications of where people identify as blacks live and amours, according to these census blocks. And those are interesting to see because they are illuminating in a lot of different ways. The second thing is that the information will move all of us to look at all of the 2020 information census and amours in terms of the broad strokes. One broad stroke that comes out is that the white population has declined over the last 10 years. And that the minority, the BIPOC population has increased. And there are some interesting questions that can be asked. One is where do those white people go? Two is where are all these BIPOC people living? Three is where are all of the people who are identified as black African Americans? Where do they live? And there are 2,900 of us. And another good thing, not a question, just a ponder is that black people and amours are a minority of a minority. Yeah. And I think what's important to know about what we just displayed there is in terms of geographic data, we can go down right to the block level. But in terms of the demographic data, they can't really get below the track level. So what we need to decide as a group is do we want our finished product to include both the geographic data, including visualizations, and demographic data that could help us look at disparities in income and housing in these various areas. And Matia, who's going to help us with the research, really feels that would be invaluable to be able to get that information. And I don't have, actually I do have my notes. So the American Community Survey, and or if you know a little bit more about, would you just say, just quickly what that it's really interesting because you can, in some instances, you can take the American Community Survey data and correlate it or try to triangulate it with the census to get some graphic display. But the American Community Survey is done five, three, and two years. I think those are it. So the five-year one is what we would be able to look, would be looking for. That is really valuable information because we cannot get that kind of information strictly from the geographic and demographic information of the census. And so, yes, in terms of my view, we really need to have both because both of those will give us a really, really good picture of African Americans and Ambers. And I got the sense from Paul today that he was supportive of our, of this work and what we're trying to accomplish. And he is the one who suggested that we come back to the drawing board and really decide on what we want. And I think I even heard him say that he worked out in the budget. And I did do a little research after that meeting and found that there is money available out there in the form of grants for folks who are working on collecting racial data because it's, it's, it's such a difficult, it's such a challenge. And so there are organizations that, and I've already gone ahead and just inquired with one Massachusetts organization who has money available for, for folks that are doing this kind of work. So let's just open it up for any comments, questions, just open discussion. How do we want to see this move and go, or please go ahead and then we'll, this is, you know, this is our opportunity. The funds are available within the town to do this. This is something that needs to happen. Furthermore, it's not only something just related to the African American population, but the town can take it upon itself to do a general survey of the population of Amherst in relationship to a snapshot of where we are, who we are, what we want, what we desire, etc. And that's available to us. And the reason, the reason I'm really wanting to promote that is that it's not only important to know where the, the outlines and to know about African Americans in town, but we also need to be able to take that data and come up with a representative stratified sample of African Americans that can be tapped into to do surveys on what this population, what our population, what we're thinking about, and what are ones and desires on a number of different topics. We can't let this go by. This amount of money that's available now is not going to be available again. Oh, that's some other comments or questions. And I'd like to raise up something that Dr. Shabazz had previously talked about in a meeting in relationship to beginning to ask our fellow community members and folks that are offering services in the community to do some of this work if they're so willing, pro bono. And so that is certainly, it may not be for this particular arrangement that we're working on here, but I would like to be able to have those conversations with these organizations. And it's possible that there may be some partnership there that can happen. Alexis or Hala, would you, how are you feeling about moving forward with broadening the scope of work to help us to, okay. Yeah, sorry, I was just going to say, well, I wasn't going to say anything because I agree with everything that Dr. Rhodes said. And I always feel like, you know, more is more, I guess, when it comes to information and data. So yeah, I'm all in. Great. Dr. Shabazz, do you have anything more to add to this? Well, just actually, yeah, I think we ought to unpause, let them produce for us what they've, what, you know, based upon what we already have kind of specified. I've been looking at the US Census Bureau data for Amherst and the ACS data. A lot of it is actually online and publicly accessible. The real question comes down to, you know, who can take the time, who's got the time to go and pull up these different layers to, you know, look at the data, you know, within Amherst, you know, to use the, you know, pull in the data. So it sounds like they're doing things that, you know, is there publicly accessible because this is public data, our tax dollars already pay for it at the federal level, but it's who has the time, who has the wherewithal, who has the expertise. I have a class that I've had them look at this kind of thing in the past. I'm not doing it this semester because I'm grad program director and I, that particular class was released for me to do other work. But yeah, it's, you know, it's helpful to get that kind of work started. We can archive it in our municipal library. We can have, you know, discussions around it that can, you know, and for Mattia and I and others who will work on the harm report, we can certainly go toward, you know, being giving us the kind of informed information that we can bring to our community discussions within the, within the African American community, give us some data to work from. We can take it, of course, when in our, in our ultimate reporting from AHRA, so that, yeah, it's, so we can have some data driven proposals. And I think that will be, will be very important going forward. Absolutely. So if I'm hearing you, Dr. Shabazz, are you saying that ideally what you would like is to have a multi-phased scope of work, so sort of release that first scope of work? Maybe we're going to do a couple, just, I'd like to move some of the hours out of that visualization piece, to be honest, because I think we can, if we can use those hours for something, maybe I think some of the visualization is good, but a lot of that can be done on our own even potentially, so, but we can, we can definitely talk more about the details, but what I'm hearing you say is you'd like to sort of release that aspect of the work and then ask them to create a second phase of the proposal that will deal with the disparity piece that we're wanting to work on for the harm report. Does that sound accurate? Yeah, and let them, as I was trying to get them to say, tell us what you think is in the data that's accessible that you can help to give us for these questions we have. And then we can then, you know, specify where we want them to drill down. But yes, for this piece for where is the population, where does the 2000 plus Black African American Amherst residents live? Give us that. I like the three different layers from the groups to the tracks, you know, show us where folks are. Let's get that. That's an initial step that can help us in our efforts to know where to canvas, where to doorknock, where to, you know, begin to do a mailing. You know, the mailings I learned in the recent campaign cycle, you know, you can do a targeted mailing to different households based on these tracks and whatnot. So we can get a postcard out to different zip codes based upon these visualizations of the blocks, the areas, the group, the tracks, where people are. We can then, you know, get a budget for a mailing of a postcard to say, you know, will you, you know, to again build the census out. So yes, I like what I think is done so far. I don't know that too much more time needs to be put into it from what we got a little overview of today. Just give us that so we can begin to run with it and think about things like mailings, like door canvassing and so on. And then, yes, let's then talk about a different scope of work for whatever the survey or other resources can tell us about things like black access to internet, to black African American internet access, black African American income levels, black African American, you know, housing issues. So whatever they can tell us in some other areas that we advise them on, then if they say yes, we can get you some things on that, we can talk about a second scope of work. But I like what's been done. And I'm very, you know, happy to go ahead and have them get that part of it done. Yeah, same here. I think we are, it's on your table. You're ready to roll with it now. And we don't need to change anything. And that there is money available to do this second phase. And, you know, so let's roll on. Excellent. Okay. Any opposition to that before we move on? All right. So we'll, I don't, I think given that we already sort of agreed to that in a previous meeting, we're just having a consensus around that now. I don't think we need to have a motion in order to act on that. So I do want to say with respect to the harm report, we are beginning that work. So Dr. Shabazz and me and Mattia have met. Mattia is actually assembling some other folks who have previously worked on the first research reports that we did. And I know Anita Sorrow is in and ready to go. And there are some others. So that work will, will be started and we will keep the AHRI updated as we proceed with that. Any other questions before we move on? Irv, I still see your hand up, but I think it was from before, unless it's not. It definitely was up before. You really get really tired. I had to take it down. All right. Excellent. So we can move on unless there is anything else to be added. Just take one more check. Okay. All right. So let's see. Where do we want to go next? We did the black census. We did the harm report. Let me just get a few things out of the way because a couple of these items are going to take some time for us to get through here. So Mass Humanities Grant link. Thank you for adding the link in there, Jennifer. I'm going to attempt to click on that and see if it, oh, that worked. That was really good. I'm going to share the screen again quickly. So I had the opportunity to meet with Brian Boyles, who is the Executive Director of Mass Humanities. Mass Humanities is responsible for the Frederick Douglas readings, for example. And they have just opened up a new round of grants. And in speaking with Brian, he felt that what we were trying to do with respect to documenting our work, he thought, expand Massachusetts stories, which is this one right here, would be a good grant program for us to apply for. It's up to $20,000. And they have an explicit mission right now to offer grants to organizations that are looking to literally expand the stories in Massachusetts and are doing racial justice and equity work. So let's go down here. So this would be up to $20,000. Brian also put me in touch with a filmmaker in Northampton, who is a board member of Mass Humanities. I haven't been able to connect with him yet, but he thought that speaking with a filmmaker and getting some folks on board, like from Amherst Media and bringing Alexis into that, would be a way to, one of the challenges with making a documentary that I didn't really know is that finding good filmmakers is really challenging. And especially right now, it's apparently very challenging. So any leads we might have are going to be good. And so the letter of inquiries opens on February 7th, which means we can begin the process essentially. The deadline is April 11th. So we have some time here. What I'd like to be able to do is get started when it opens so that I can bring the application for everyone's review and input and work in a meeting in the next several weeks when we're meeting again. So any questions about that or comments or concerns? Sorry, when did you say the deadline for that one was? I have, we can begin, the inquiry date is the 7th of February, but what was the end? Hang on, it was April 11th. And I think there was also a suggestion to, I lost my, hang on one second, there we go. There was also a suggestion to see if there are ways to connect with other communities around this. So that was just another suggestion, I think that I spoke with Brian about. All right. Any questions before we move on from that? I just will note I spoke with Lawrence Hott, who is a film documentary filmmaker and is on the board of mass humanities. I think we just talked yesterday and I think we have scheduled to talk again on Friday. And so I will be following up with that and let folks know relative to our work, what may be some connections there. But yeah, overall this is good. I will also note that our colleague here at UMass, Whitney Battle Baptiste, is also on that board as the governor's appointee and can be a resource to us in knowing better how to put together good proposals or inquiry letters. Excellent. That is a really good point. Yes. And the gentleman you spoke to, Larry or Lawrence, that is who I had emailed. So I'm glad you're in touch with them. And if I can be of any help in terms of that, let me know. Or Alexis maybe would be even a better person to bring in. Can you just say his last name again? Because I had more. Okay. Thank you. Perfect. Okay. Anything else on that? All right. So let's see here. All right. I'm going to quickly talk about the concept membo for the TC regarding home rule charter. So we have been talking over the last few meetings about the one of the three legal pathways that KP law recommended with respect to distributing reparation funds. And that is creating a home rule petition that would define reparations as a public purpose. And would essentially, it would, it would tell, it would message that we enamorced if it were approved by the town council and sent to Mindy to take through the process. It would mean that we think reparations, distributing reparations benefits is a public purpose. And it would say all of the reasons, you know, why and have some sort of general, I guess it's advised not to be too specific, but also to have enough information in there, but to have it to be somewhat flexible. So the advice of Paul and Lynn at this point is that we should create a concept memo that will also serve as an educational opportunity for fellow council members. And so I have asked for us to be placed on the March 7 town council agenda to present a concept memo that would one outline and explain the purpose for doing the home rule and beginning that process, and would offer us an opportunity to have the ear of council members to begin that educational process. So it would be two fold. And then the end result ideally would be that the council would support us in moving forward. And it's important to know that even if we start that pathway of the home rule petition, it doesn't mean we can't take the other pathways to it's just, it's just one of the options. And so I see Alexis's hand is raised. So I'm going to, Alexis, please. I was just wondering if you could be a little bit more specific about what we can, or so you had said that strategically there are some things that we're supposed to be specific about and maybe more vague or flexible about. And I guess I'm wondering if you could be more specific about what those things are. Absolutely. And I asked that question actually when I met with KP Law. So for example, we don't have to, in the home rule, we don't have to be really, really specific about eligibility and about exactly what the design of the reparative program will be. So we can simultaneously continue to do that work and to develop eligibility criteria and to design the benefits that this body would like to pursue. But we have to sort of have some language in there that says that we are defining reparations as a public purpose. And for example, we might say, and this would be according to ENCOBRA, we might talk about direct benefits that would go to an individual, such as housing assistance, business scholarship, things like that, versus community benefits that would be for the community as a whole, like education and celebration and markings and all of those sorts of things. So that is, we can, I would like us to use the language from ENCOBRA because I think it's really good the way they describe the benefits, potential benefits. But does that answer your question? Yes, that's very helpful. Thank you. Sure. So I guess the ask that I have right now is I would like to begin drafting with the help of Repdom who has a little more information about dates and we'll have to sort of strategically think about when we want to, at this point, any filing would be a late filing. And we're not guaranteed necessarily a hearing. She's going to find, she's going to look into that for us though. If we weren't going to do a late filing for this session, then we would have until January of 2023 when the new session started to submit it in the new session. I'd like to really understand what the downside of a late filing is if there is a big downside to that. But the ask that I have for you tonight is that I would like to begin to draft that concept memo for your review at the next meeting and then to prepare us to do a presentation to the town council on March 7th. So if there aren't any objections to that, we can move on or if there are more questions or comments, this would be a great time to ask. As I recall, the representative was saying that there was a downside potentially in terms of trying to do it in this session that's closing out and that she wanted to check also in terms of what the certain resources I thought on the state end in terms of the writing. I'm not sure. I know you're saying certain things ought to be informed in the petition locally, but I thought there was like a template or something she was saying that might be accessible through the bill writers, through the legislative writers. I can't remember exactly how she described it, but there's some resource in Boston on Beacon Hill that she wanted to see. Did you have, was that a part of your understanding and have you heard from her on that? Yes. So what she was saying is that she was going to consult with house council to see what their sort of perspective was on this. And I think what was decided in, what was discussed at least in the meeting with myself and KP Law is that Mindy and house council would work with town council, with the attorney for the town, KP Law, in drafting and so knowing, for example, and I think we've talked about this before, once it gets through town council, then it goes to a particular committee. And so we have like the chair of the newly formed state committee that's for racial equity is chaired by Bud Williams. Am I getting that, Bud Williams in Springfield? Okay. And I actually just watched their first meeting that happened, I think last month and I would recommend that you, I can send the link for everybody to watch that. It was really interesting. But where the bill goes matters, which committee it ends up in matters. And so if there's some way for us to create the legislation that allows it to go into a committee that might be more apt to take it up, then we want to think about those things. So I think that's sort of the value of those conversations that you're that you were thinking about Dr. Shabazz. And I don't think that Repdom has had that opportunity yet, because it's been really busy, they're closing out this session. But I know that she will. You think it would be useful to ask if there is a template of a type of home rule legislation similar to what we're looking at that has recently gone through that could then guide us in the in the work of framing from this end. I know we could all be done, you know, once we approve what we approve here. But if we could draft something that's closer to the format of what they're used to seeing, maybe it would be, you know, would speed its reception. Absolutely. And you know what you just reminded me that I had a brief follow up call with Paul after the meeting with KP Law. And the lawyer Lauren had already gone back and discovered that the first sort of home rule that was like the one that we're doing was actually for cannabis legislation. So there's a precedent that has been set. And so she had already pulled together that language as because we certainly don't need to reinvent the wheel. But in some ways, we are inventing this thing. So we're doing both, you know, so we want to pull from what we can. And we wanted and we're also going to be, we're going to be innovating something in a way. So both. And just to be clear, the concept memo that would be presented to the town council on March 7th, it will not be the language of the bill by any means. It's actually the first step to get the town council support in moving forward with this pathway. So I just want to make sure that was clear. Yes, Alexis. I was wondering strategically, and maybe maybe this is too soon to talk about this, but I guess I was wondering if is there a special way, maybe not special, but is there a certain way that we should be presenting this to the town council? Like, should we all be there? Like, you know, is there a way that we should be doing that strategically? My answer is yes. I think that's like in our next meeting, because we're not going to have a whole lot of meeting time between now and March 7th. I think we need to discuss how what our strategy is for presenting. And in the meantime, what I can do is speak with Lynn. I asked Lynn when I asked her to put us on the agenda, I said, you know, I really want to make sure that we get on there when we have the space and time to really be able to have a discussion with the council. And so instead of, you know, we thought about the 28th, but we moved it to the 7th. So I feel ensured that we're going to have a good space and time to make a presentation. And I think it's an opportunity that we have and that we should all be present if we can and contribute to that. Any other questions or comments on this? All right. Good. So moving on then. Let's see here. Okay. Dr. Shabazz, I just I need to do a quick check in with you about CPA. We didn't get a chance to touch base today. So I just want to check in and see if you are prepared to talk about CPA. I also would like to say that in your packet, I included the CPA report for FY23. So you can see all of the projects that are being recommended. And you can see that there's close to $500,000 left for FY23 for late applicants potentially. We did check with the chair of that committee. She explained to us the process, how that would go. And I also included in the packet an example of West Cemetery that the town of Amherst put in a CPA proposal that they put in. So you could get an idea in a sense of what that application would need to look like. My main goal is there's almost $500,000. And we haven't gone through a consultative process to the extent that we would like to when FY24 CPA opens. But I don't want us to lose this possibility here in FY23. So I'm going to open it to you, Dr. Shabazz. Well, and I'll just open the discussion in a way that others can also join in. The education that I think is important is to understand CPA guidelines and to understand what can fit in as far as reparative justice work in the four areas of the Community Preservation Act. That is affordable housing, historic preservation, open space, public recreation. Under public recreation, there are groups that I have met with that really I think it's a question of should they come before us to present? Do they transmit the information through me to present to AHRA for its support? But there are ideas around public recreation in terms of facilities that African heritage people use and would have ideas of how these could be improved and could help to preserve aspects of their involvement in public recreation. Open space is really a question that in the Black Assembly of Amherst, Massachusetts, there have been a number of people really interested in concern. But I tell them that the question of how to use, how open space can also be used in ways by the Black community, besides say on walking trails or just looking at it or just knowing that it's preserved for future generations is really a question that I will have to, we'll need to dig in deeper with our local CPA group to understand how on some of this land, open space, what's the possibility for Black farmers to be able to have a patch to cultivate on? Who do we address those questions to? Who can answer what under open space, what are allowable uses that the Black community or African heritage farmers might be allowed and be able to seek support for with respect of that? Clearly under historic preservation, there are ideas. Some groups are developing their own proposals independently in terms of families who have lived in Amherst for multiple generations and how that history is best preserved and they will at their time be bringing forth these proposals. And then I do have something coming forth on that relative to the scholars walk or the heritage trail acknowledging the many artists and scholars of African heritage that have called Amherst home. And finally in the affordable housing area, this is again an area that I think additional information, understanding of what is allowable, what is fundable in the area of affordable housing then that I am yet able to really know what constitutes activities under that particular piece. So it is, I think we can look between before this Black History Month for proposal to look at on the historic preservation side, it won't be the last one. There are others that I say that again groups independent, independently plan to bring forth to AHRA and the town council, but there is at least one that will come out this Black History Month. But again in the other two areas, the other areas, I think there is still some educational things that could really be helpful to guide the proposal writing process in terms of what is allowable. And maybe others here on this body wish to speak to or have ideas about the affordable housing or open space or public recreation areas that they have looked into. Thank you, Dr. Shabazz, that was really helpful. Any, yeah, following up on what Dr. Shabazz said, are there any other comments about, I guess I am curious how the group feels based on what Dr. Shabazz just presented that we can move forward and actually begin the process and what supports do we need, what help do we need from folks who know how to write these applications. If you look at the application that I put in the packet, you'll see it's not super technical, but it would be, it would certainly be good to have some support in putting it together. So I guess I'm just curious what we feel the next sort of action steps should be to move our process forward. Okay. Well, why don't we, or were you going to add something? No, okay. So Dr. Shabazz, you and I can touch base offline. I did have a chance to talk with Councilor Lopes today. And so Councilor Lopes is one of those families that is a member of a family that has been here for generations and has some ideas with respect to possible CPA projects and would like the AHRA's support in bringing those forward. So we can sort of address that again and then we'll come back in our next meeting and see if we can sort of put something together. Does that sound good? You say the current list is in our packet, but is it also up on the web? Are you talking about, yeah, the current, I can, it is, it is, it should be. Actually, you know what, where you can find it is in the town council meeting packet for Monday's meeting. I believe it's in there, but it's also in our packet. So let me see if I, I just want to show you here. This is Cambridge and how, you know, really easy they make it. So here they have CPA process for fiscal year 22 is complete. They then digest every proposal. You can go right in there and pull up something, you know, like the bare root nursery. And, you know, here comes, here it comes. It shows you exactly how they applied, the form, the rationale, the statement of goals and purposes, the, you know, the total project budget. I just like how it lays out there. But, you know, but again, that's Cambridge and we're immersed, but just wanted to show you how it's done there. But I will investigate the packets and see what, you know, and be able to look at some of the existing ones, especially the West Cemetery. And I'd like to see what's already been proposed on West Cemetery. Yeah, that was a really good one. I, yeah, and there are a couple actually, there's one in our packet, but in the, in there, there were a couple proposals for West Cemetery, I think. So take a look. Okay, good. Anything else on this? All right. So let's hang on one second. Just take a quick look. Okay, good. We're moving through. So the next, the next sort of piece of what I'd like to talk about is our community engagement process forthcoming. And this is going to tie into our BAM update this week. So, HALO will be offering a BAM update. I am going to just bring something up to share with you all real quick. And this is by no means complete. Let's see here. But I just wanted to give you a sense of what I've been sort of thinking about as I'm thinking about what our community engagement can look like here. So we'll just quickly look at this. So I have starting here at the top. We've got our African heritage residents. We have non-black residents. We have our elected officials and all of those categories, our town departments, our town committees, our PACs, which are our political action committees. And this is again, it's not exhaustive. We have the economic development organizations, our media, our anchor institutions, including reaching students, staff and faculty and alumni. We have our family community and civic organizations, our grassroots activism, activist organizations, independent schools, faith organizations and groups, neighborhood associations. So these are, this is my everything coming out of my brain that I could think of that we would need that we would want to touch in this process. And so the question is, how are we going to do it? And so some ideas here, we have town hall meetings, community forums, educational symposiums and presentations, listening sessions that certainly I would envision being community led and facilitated. And Evanston has done a really nice job with that. I can share their model and then organized social events, community, the black community, having social events, organized social events. So these are some of the ways I am going to place that I'm going to send this to you all. And I would love actually, I don't know, no, I guess, I think if I've already spoken about it, we might be able to add to it. I'm going to have to find out Jennifer, do you know if I can I make this a shared document that can be added to probably not, right? You're muted. It just needs to be added to the packet. Okay, for this past week. Okay, great. For this, yeah, no, it needs to be added to tonight's packet. Right. Okay. Okay, perfect. Alexis? I was just going to say, but I will add it to, we do reach 6,500. So, you know, the cable subscriber is in Amherst through Amherst media. So that's one way we can get on to TV. We also have an in at Valley Free Radio. I also have a personal connection at 106.3 WBIB. And that is a station that is often listened to by our community. So, what was that? Would you say that one more time? So there was Valley Free Radio. Okay. And then the next one, and I think that's WHMP or something. And then the next one. Oh, WHMP is different. Oh, okay. I'm wrong then. Valley Free Radio, that's one. And then and then 106.3 WBIB. Which is on my phone. WBIB. Thank you. Okay. Great. Oops. Oh, good. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I also, I was so like less like right as you were ending talking about the CPA grant. I had a really small question. So is, are all of these, do all of them have to be completed within three years? The CPA projects? Yeah. I don't know. That's an excellent question. Do you have an answer for that? Jennifer or Dr. Shabazz? Anybody really? Well, I learned of one concerning our historic black church that hasn't even started. And it's almost two years since they were approved for the funding. So I think they do like to see it happen within a frame of time. But again, if there are problems, I suppose they can grant some latitude. Is that the debt project get underway? Never got underway. Is it underway now, Heather? We're working on it. The pandemic really put it, and then the price of labor lumber, but yeah. Yeah. What I mean is, has it cleared all the hurdles in relationship to the town? Has the town I heard the solution to the W9 issue is at hand. Is that right, Halla? Yes. We just had a meeting actually Monday. So we're moving forward. That's great. I'm really glad to hear that. Yeah. So what I'd like to do is to take this who and how, and then for us to be able to develop a budget that, that we will require to do this and a timeline and how this is going to get done. So I'm going to open the floor to Halla because, and just to give a little background, this is sort of part of the BAM update. BAM met last week and discussed they have a specific proposal with respect to community engagement. And I think that it would behoove us to have that proposal be part, if possible, of a larger community engagement proposal request to the town manager. And Irv, I see your hand is up. I didn't see it in your presentation just now. The Downtown Amherst Foundation. Okay. Thank you. So I have the chamber, the bid. Should I put that under, under this here, right here? I mean, yeah, I mean, it doesn't fit neatly, but it's fine. It's really, yeah. It's its own line. It gets its own line. Yeah. Any other shout outs of what might I please look at this once it's added to the packet and, and, and think about it and add to it. And this is a working document for sure. But if I've missed anything, just write, you know, write out the gate here. I think there is a black business organization that's, that's re reorganizing. And I'll, I'll try to get you the info on that. Great. That would be great. I think that there are probably family community and civic organizations that aren't on here that need to be added. There were some that were located in Hadley or sort of in the surrounding community that I didn't add. Youth Action Coalition, which was around for 17 years, but during the pandemic and before the pandemic kind of went, Youth Action Coalition is, oh, Sunrise. You're talking Youth Action Coalition. Yeah, but they're, they're being revived as well, coming out of the pandemic. Excellent. Okay. Any other youth? Yeah, youth. Any other youth organizations? In the high school there, for example, there's Poku. I don't know. You might just want to just say the high school itself, Amherst Regional High School. But, but within it, there are groups like the MSTAN, Minority Student Achievement Network. There's, there's Poku, but again, I wouldn't necessarily, yeah, I just would generalize it under Amherst Regional High School groups. Excellent. Earth? Yeah. Yeah, I, I, they're within the, with obviously within the school Amherst Public Schools, there's the Social Equity Action Group, whatever, SEAC. SEAC. Right. Okay. There's also CPAC and CPAC. S-E-P-A-C. CPAC. S-E-P-A-C. Okay. I had my mind on CPAC still. Okay. I had my hand up for the Martin Luther King Breakfast Committee. They've been around for 40 years and have quite a base. It would be down. We're doing CPR to it right now, under the family community and civic organizations. Perfect. Okay. So it's the Martin Luther King Breakfast. Yeah, I always want to put the doctor in there because I, but yeah, other King Breakfast Committee. One of the people involved with that are one of the people I, we're looking to honor in our walk. And that's Mary Wyah. Yes. That's awesome. Sorry, Halla. Do you see anything that stands out that is missed here right now? I'm not sure about CRAN, the status of CRAN. I'll have to check in with Ash Hartwell, but that's the race amity now. Yes. That is, yeah, they did a program last year. So I think that's a good one. CRAN. Is it CRAN? Okay. All right. So we can continue to add to this, but we have our work cut out. So we have a lot of work to do. So between now and the next meeting, I'm going to try to get this a little bit more organized in terms of how we can, like for example, which of these are we going to sort of blanket outreach through a community forum or through an educational program? Which of these groups do we maybe need to do a little more sort of individual contact with? So I'll try to strategize a little bit more around all of that. But for now, I'd like to open it up to Halla to give the BAM update. And I'm going to take this down. Thank you. The BAM update definitely ties well into the community engagement. We tie more into the African heritage, Black identified residents of Amherst, as we're looking to engage with and connect with census. So an idea that we voted on and feel really excited about is to prioritize a Black owned business in Amherst. And over 12 weeks, have 50 people invited or welcome to come in, eat, talk, we share information, they share information, it's a dialogue. It's kind of how we do it. It's a chance to really get feedback because we learned from Evanston that some people were like, hey, we didn't get to get our voices raised. And we know this is one way that we come together, build community, even start to figure out different ways to repair harm. So that would be 12 weeks, 50 people a week. You said not to talk about budget yet because we're going to do the big, big budget. But we have that in mind. We're happy to support a Black owned business. I could go, there was some pushback about that. And I don't want to, I know we're running late, but it sort of parallels right now when President Biden says, I'm intentionally choosing a Black, a qualified Black woman to nominate for Supreme Court. And it's not to put any disrespect to the other businesses. But since the seizing of this country that we now call the United States of America, it used to be written in, you know, European descended white property owning male, very clearly in the law. So over all these hundred years, it's just become known and part of normative. So we have to start naming the sociocultural groups and marginalized peoples that have pushed out of these places and tables and opportunities. And it's not going to feel good sometimes, but I think it's really important to start naming the people that have been excluded. And so when we say a Black owned business in Amherst, it's to support that part of that. I just superimposed that on there, but that's part of why it's really important also because it's been a history not to be at that table. Awesome. I think I just ran over a whole bunch of stuff. Did I include everything I needed to include? Did I miss something? I see some hands. Dr. Rhodes, Dr. Shabazz. No, I guess, you know, you know, supporting Black owned businesses is obviously a really great thing. I guess I want to emphasize business and that is Black owned is one thing, but it's still in business, which and that business needs support of the entire community. Not just African Americans. In order for any business to succeed in this town, you need all. Absolutely. You and Alexis. Oh, I'm sorry. I raised my hand before I formulated my thought fully, but I am, I have a strong belief that when you cater to the most marginalized, you're actually creating an inclusive environment for everyone in the end anyways. So I think that centering those who have been pushed so far from the center, I think that that actually ends up benefiting everyone anyways. I'm sorry, I didn't say that very eloquently, but. You absolutely did. Yeah. I'm not sure what the pause is on speaking to the budget if we're going to raise our support. No, no, I'm sorry. I want to make sure that was clear. So it sounds like BAM has a budget in mind for that. What I had said to Hala is about like, do we want to strategically look at a full community engagement budget that we're going to need? Oh, okay. Go to Paul and say, we need X amount of money for our community engagement and educational process. And then we have within that the control of how it's getting, what we're doing and how we're distributing it. Or do we want to go one by one? My inclination would be to try to have a budget that sort of handles, if not all most of what we're trying to do. But yes, Hala, please do share the details with that of that if that's. Yeah, excellent. We are asking for $15,000 and that is for 12 weeks of paying for people making the food, the food and the rental of the space, which to me is an amazing price and we're blessed that we found a person to work with us with that price. Hala, do you have a, is there a space in mind that you're talking about? Yes. And? The full name of it, I don't want to butcher the name. Shabazz, I know it's Hazel's something. Yes, that's all Hazel. And I'm happy to say my, the word is I just learned that the town of Amherst has certified them to open. We're talking about the Blue Lagoon then. Yeah, that's the night club part, but the dinner part, the dining part is Hazel's and it just was approved today. The last hurdles have been, have been, so yeah, so very excited. It's accessible by the bus route. Every bus route goes right to the center of town. So that made it also something that felt really more accessible. It'll take time to get launched on this because we've got to think about, with respect to the outreach strategy, you're, you're raising Madam Chair that, you know, as well as the Institute, the information from Donahue Institute, how do we begin to canvas and get people? We're not interested in the same 50 people coming every week over and over again for a free meal. We're, we're, we're trying to have targeted invites, different constituencies, different parts of the community through. So, so there is time to kind of think about the outreach strategy behind this and, and then move to, to get this launched. But, but if we can, you know, get the, get the budget piece approved and, you know, and then begin to work with the, the restaurant to, to start, you know, pigeon-holing dates, you know, when they can accommodate us for a couple of hours to come out, set up, bring our information out, set up the tables, and, you know, and then have people come in, sit down, have the exchange of information, get the ideas from, from folks, and then, you know, sign up our mailing list, our email list, what have you, if they're so willing, and then, you know, take their meal with them or eat it, eat it on site, and then, you know, and then onto the next week, next group. But, but yes, all of those, all of the things in the outreach strategy has been laid out, how to, you know, tap into as we start this process, the radio stations, Amherst media to put up a, a bulletin item for the 6,500 viewers there to see. And, you know, and ultimately, we're, we're moving through the African-American community. But as we get that piece underway and going and start to get the ideas generated from this, this, this can be ramped up and expanded and held in other places as well, not just in the same venue when we start trying to reach out to the larger community to, to have these dialogues and to have these conversations, you know, we can reach out and have something on the, for example, on the various campuses, something at Amherst College, something at UMass, something at Hampshire to tap those, those communities, particularly those populations that are, that are really resident year-round and, and, and what their concerns are and, and how they're engaged, you know, we can move this around. So I see it as a, as an iterative process, I see it as a process that ramp, that starts here, but then ramps up and utilizes and touches all of those kinds of constituencies you've been, you've been laying out. I would make a note, by the way, I, I'm on air on Friday on a Valley Free Radio, the Occupy the Airwaves show on Friday with Ima Khan, Sudan and Bruce Feldman and Linda, Zegabon and others, speaking about Black History Month, speaking about Amherst, Massachusetts and Black History. So, you know, they, the, all of those channels are, are very, very important to, to, to strategize, to think about how do we get our word out through, but, but to start launching this reparations repast, this, this kind of chat and chew, to, to collect ideas, to get people engaged in the process. I think this is a start, but it scales up and, and grows from here. So, yeah. So, my assumption is that, that you're coordinating just with the, with Hazels. Is that, is that correct? I can now, now that they're approved. That I'm like, I gotta think of a plan B. Shabazz is that, you know, Hazels is, is some, is, is on board with your idea of doing this, etc., and it's, and is going to be integrated into their business concept. Well, you know, I don't know about, as a kind, I think it's just business for them. So, you know, a slow night when they can give us two hours, this doesn't define their business. This isn't like, okay, now they're, they're the reparations dinner space. And, and the only people who can come here are people who are coming to, to eat and talk about reparations. No, this, this doesn't affect their business model, or this is just two hours, once a week, on a slow night or whatever. Yeah, what I'm saying is that I, what I'm wanting to know is, have you discussed this with them going through with a plan for etc., because it's, it's, you know, this is something that's not only good for them, it's good for the community, but also, hey, man, you know, if you've ever been in two, in terms of starting up a restaurant, this is no joke. And this is serious stuff. So they have to integrate this all into what they're doing, because it's, this is what meets the pavement. And it is really difficult. And I do know what has been going on in the background in terms of how they have come about getting, just getting, just getting ready to open. And so they've, they've gone through a mighty struggle. And so I guess what I'm saying is, and advocating for is that their talk to is integrated into their plan, etc. One other thing, and I like the concept, the downtown Amherst Foundation is going to be opening that a performance space that's called the Drake. And obviously that's, that's the space where this kind of thing can take place there. Also, and the third thing is, is budget, and where this money's going to come from. My assumption is, if we're talking about money coming from the town, it really should come from our part of money that's already been set aside. Yeah. Yeah. Wow. Well, that is all really exciting. And, and so thank you, Hala, for reporting that back and for Dr. Shabazz and expanding that. And I just will make, I just want to make one comment with respect to supporting black owned businesses in Amherst. And I'm embarrassed to say that I'm not familiar with every black owned restaurant, if there are others. And just curious if this group knows if there are other black owned restaurants or other black owned spaces that we can begin to consider as well in addition to this, to this. So it doesn't have to be answered now, but I just put that out there. The only other restaurant I know of is Mission Cantina. But that says something. That's right, Jennifer, exactly. Go ahead, Dr. Shabazz. I'll let you know about in what context. What's the only other black owned restaurant in Amherst that I know about right now is Mission Cantina. Okay. There's also the, the spot that used to be White Hut, right? I don't know. They closed. I think they closed. I think that closed. Yep. They know where White Hut is, is where used to be, it used to be Buffalo Bills. And so in there now is the people who own the, one of those drinks, the bubble tea, honey, it's the chicken place, right? It's the chicken place on the other side. Well, just something that will keep in mind and maybe, and there might be other creative things that we're not even thinking of black owned something or other that we're not thinking about right now. So I mean, I know there's like the jewelry store. I think there's a gentleman that owns, or is it an antique shop in the center of town? Oh yeah, Jane Austen. That is absolutely. Yep. I mean, Mr. Gaines typewriter shop. Yep. The typewriter shop. Yep. And also the two, the barber and the other, the braiding place that's over by El Camolito in front there. Global cuts. What does that call the braiding spot? Hair. I can't think of it at the top of my head. Yes, me as the owner. Because we could, you know, we could do, we could go on the road, you know, and have little pop-ups that happen at these various locations just to lift them up, you know, like maybe Hazels is the hub. And then we have these other pop-up type of events, but we'll, we can get more into that. We might get too excited right now. No, no, Alexis, please. You go. Well, I was going to say that if we have some like, if we have like printed materials, I'm sure that like Kiam and then like, I'm, I'm sure that they wouldn't mind just having them there. Yeah. That's a good call. Yeah. All right. So I wanted to just make sure that we, I know everybody's calendars are getting quite busy before, let me just check the agenda real quick. So we've gotten through everything. I would like to open it up for public comment again. I don't need to read the statement again, because we have the same attendees. So I will not read it, but I will say if the person in attendance would like to speak or be heard or have public comment, please raise your hand. Okay. So not seeing any public comment. And what I want to make sure that we get through is figuring out our next meeting date or date or dates before we, before we wrap up, because I think that people's schedules are starting to get really busy. I'm going to call Yvonne tomorrow and try to, to reach her to see what her schedule looks like. But is this day and time working for people for the most part on a biweekly basis? Yeah. Thursday happens to be the day when, when most meetings are taking place. I mean, for instance, I was in another meeting right before this one and had to get off because it was, you know, was interviewing this when I look at my calendar, the Thursday dates, there are, you know, there, it's, it wipes matters. No way I could do put, I mean, JCPC is starting to meet on, on, on Thursdays starting the 10th. Of the 10th. 10th of February. And it's every, and it's every Thursday after that. And now, and, and that's, you know, that's, that's only one, it's from five to six. And, okay. And on the, and on, also on the 10th, there's also the four towns meeting. So anyway, Thursdays are really problematic for me. And then once a month there's a couple of other meetings that come up. So anyway, Thursdays are problematic for me. How about the 17th? If we can get, can we get the 17th Thursday two weeks from now? And then, and then from there we can try to see if we need to, because I will have a couple Thursdays coming up as well, where I'm not going to be available to meet. So give me a thumbs up if the 17th at 630 works. Not for me. Doesn't, Irv, what time does any time work for you on the 17th? You know, again, JCPC means from five to six and, and now on that same day, the social and equity action group, coalition at the, for the schools they meet at 630. Okay. On the 17th? On the 17th. Okay. Jennifer, what generally speaking, what are Tuesday nights like for you, like Tuesday the 15th? Tuesdays are free for me. Alexis, I'm sorry. I didn't see your hand. Go ahead. It's all good. I was just going to be the bearer of bad news. I have to, I, I run almost every so Mondays I run the town council on Tuesdays. I run the school council or the regional school, I mean the school committee or the regional school committee. And then on Wednesdays, I run the planning board. So I pretty much attend every meeting starting at either 6 or 630. So Thursday is my good day, but yeah, I don't, I don't know. Okay. I'm going to say let's stick with the 17th for our next meeting and Irv, I'm sorry that you won't be able to be that one. And we will, you know, what I'll do is I'm going to send out an email to everybody with like the next possible Thursdays. And you could just reply to me and say that you can do these, the ones you can do and the ones you can't. And then we'll try to figure it out from there. Also Michelle, would you, what is the date that you're going to be going to the council? Yes. Thank you. That's Monday, March 7th. And I will have more details as we approach that date in terms of timing that I'll be able to share with everybody who will want to be there and part of that presentation. So I'm going to usually start so I can just put it in my calendar. Yeah, 630. All right. Thank you. Do you just let me, or can we just, maybe I don't know if people know now, but I'll have to post a meeting for that if every, if there's going to be more than a quorum attended that. So if you know ahead of time that you'll be attending that would be great. I'm definitely going to be there. Is everyone, if bearing schedules going to try to be there at that meeting? Okay. So I say we should probably, let me talk with Lynn tomorrow, Jennifer, but it probably makes sense just to post it and get it out there. So yeah. Okay. All right. So I had one quick announcement. I just, I wanted to share that I had the opportunity to present at Applewood on Saturday morning. And Applewood is, if you don't know, it's like an adult living, maybe I'm not holding it the right thing. There's a certain name for how it's described, but it's a community over by Akins. And it was really, really successful presentation. There were almost 50 residents. They were, I couldn't identify people for them, but they appeared to be mostly white people, if not all. And I gave a presentation that I'd like, I'd love to send to you all. So you can look at it. It basically gives some history on field orders, number 15, and the withdrawal of that. And then it talks about, I'm sorry, my brain, Michelle, like something happened and I couldn't hear you. What did you say? I said that I spoke at Applewood on Saturday morning. I gave a presentation and talked about what sort of has happened since emancipation all the way up to now and helped. I think it was just a really great conversation. And I left the dialogue at the end with a question. I asked folks to reflect on what their greatest hope and their greatest fear for a reparations program in Amherst was. And it was really interesting to hear what people had to say. And I think it really helped. I was awakened after I wrote a column for the Amherst current about making a case for local reparations. There weren't any public comments. Nobody commented on it publicly at all. And yet I had emails, texts, calls about the piece with really, really thoughtful feedback. And so it just got me thinking that people are, particularly white people, are really nervous to talk about this. And so wanting to find ways to sort of break the ice around the conversation by opening with some questions for reflection. So I just, I thought it went really well and just wanted to share that with you all. So I think that, let me just take a look. I didn't anticipate, I did not anticipate anything. Are there any other questions or comments or member reports? I heard you say, Dr. Shabazz, you're going to be on the radio. I didn't hear a time. You know, I'll try to, I know I must have it. It's actually we record. I take that back. We record, I think this Friday, and I'll have to, and I'll relay the time when it airs. But it's not a live moment. It's recorded and then they broadcast. I believe. Okay. And maybe we can add that on to our resources once it's completed. Any other questions or comments? Member reports? And Alexis, I'm going to get back to you on your email just so you know about the documentary stuff. Okay. All right. Well, thank you. So I'm going to end this meeting at 8.07 PM. And have a great night, everybody, and see you in a couple of weeks. Bye. WXOJ is, and it's 103.3 FM in Northampton. And Dr. Shabazz, everybody's left. I would send an email to the group. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm just talking. I didn't even know I was still on screen. You're still on. I'm here. All right. So you know this, this, uh, Can you hold, can you wait? Can you hold a second? Okay.