 And so I just wanted to also let the assembly know that I received an email today from Will Norris, who is a journalism student at Columbia University, and he is here in attendance with us today. All right. Okey-dokey. As we have a quorum, we can open this meeting of the African Heritage Reparation Assembly for Thursday, November 4th, 2021, pursuant to Chapter 20 of the Acts of 2021. This meeting will be conducted by a remote means. Members of the public who wish to access the meeting may do so via Zoom or by telephone. Also it's 6.16 p.m. Thank you. No problem. See instructions below. 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 by a technological means. We need to make sure everyone who is here with us can be heard. So when I call your name, please just respond with a present or here. Irv Rhodes. Hi. Here. Thank you. Michelle Miller. Here. Yvonne Mendez. Here. And Dr. Jemison is here. And people have been responding to me, so I think folks can hear me. So welcome to the meeting. Thank you for that announcement. Jennifer, were there any other announcements from other members present? Nope. Nope. Okay. I guess just to say that. How hallow will be here for the first hour. And Alexis will also be here, but need to leave by seven. No, no. About Dr. Shabazz. Got it. Okay. Thank you. And I'm, I wonder if you want to table the minutes until some more folks are here to approve them or the four of you guys. And actually, I don't know that Yvonne was here for the last, for the set of minutes that's in your packet. So you should probably wait for a fourth. A fifth member to. That sounds like a great idea. So we will. Table or will hold the approval of the October 13th minutes. Until later in the meeting. We have a public comment at the end. We have a public comment at the end. When we have the appropriate, appropriate. Group of folks. And quickly to review the agenda. We have a public comment period at the end. Or at the beginning and the end. And we have an action packed. Meeting today. Covering our standard meeting etiquette. I will talk about the reports that we filed. Community healing successor group. We have a public comment at the end of the meeting. We have a public comment at the end of the meeting. The mass cultural council grant a legal update. More on the community preservation act. And update on our film. Screening partnership for reckoning in Boston. And a website and email updates. So followed by. The BAM update and public comment. So thank you. Michelle, did you want to kick off our first public comment period? No, thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Hello, we'll be joining by phone. So when we see a number of minutes, the phone number. That will be her. During the public comment period, one of the co-chairs will recognize members of the public. When called on, please identify yourself by stating your full name, preferred pronouns and residential address. Residents are welcome to express their views for up to three minutes. So please be there time to another speaker. The AHRA will not engage in a dialogue or comment on a matter raised or in public comment, but we will certainly be listening. And taking notes. So if you would like to speak in public comment, please raise your, use the. Raise hand function. And Jennifer will bring you into the room. So it looks like Will Norris would like to come into the room. Can you hear me? Yes, we can. Hi. So thanks for, thanks for including me here. I just wanted to explain who I am. So I'm not just lurking. I'm a graduate student at Columbia journalism school. And also from North Hampton. And I'm interested in looking into. Your efforts and Amherst efforts to. To blow them into the reparations program. And so this would be sort of like a magazine style feature story. Potentially. So I just wanted to meet some of you folks and listen in here. And hopefully. Talk more in the future. So that's all. Great. Thank you. Well, thanks for joining us. Okay. So it looks like there are no other public commenters. So we can go ahead and move on. And Jennifer, is it easy for you to bring up our ropes etiquette? Is it in the, is it in the packet standard now? Like every time or do we have to go to that link that takes us to the. I can probably pull up the document easily because they have it in, but while I know that it's part of the standard, I didn't know the packet itself was going to be part of the. That was going to be part of the packet. Like I didn't know the document itself was going to be part of the packet every. Meeting. So. Yeah, I don't know if it needs to be necessarily, I guess, just to make it. I don't know if it needs to be consistent, but sure, if you, if it's, if it's easy for you to pull up, we'll just look at it quickly. Sure. Just one second, please. I also have a gen. If that's easier. Okay. Right. I will share. Congratulations, Michelle Miller. Thank you. I'm looking for my packet, but, uh, but yeah. Congratulations. Thank you. Yeah. Thank you. I appreciate it. I'm, I'm, I'm looking forward to it. Yeah. She had a really strong opposition. Congratulations. Despite all the opposition, you prevail. Yeah. Yeah. Michelle ran a hell of a campaign against huge amount of opposition, strong opposition. Hey, I did run a good campaign not to get off topic here. Yeah. You know, politicians. I don't know. I think I need to, we need to throw y'all off this committee. Right away. Well, I was in the world of Amherst college today and that's a, that's a very unique world. Yeah. I mean, I mean, I mean, I was there that you couldn't see the, the participants, but it was good. It was excellent. It was an excellent presentation. And I hope I was there. I loved it too. Hopefully we can get a video and pass it around. Yeah. I just, I gotta ask Betsy or. Yeah. I'm going to tell you about that. Yeah. I think it was being recorded up until the Q and a, you know, I think it was being recorded up until the Q and a, you know, you're getting off topic. Oh, thank you. And thank you. So we, we got the ropes to know up here. So we're just making it a habit in our meetings to take a quick peak at these. For me, I take a look and see what, what of the words jump out to me the most. And that's what I figure I need to pay attention to for the remainder of the meeting. I just want to check. I believe that the number that I see is. I'm. Hala, but I just want to confirm. So I've only let her in to speak. Hala, is that you? Yes, it is her. She just texted me. Okay. So I'm going to move her over to. It is not letting me move her into the panelist. I wonder if she came in on the, does the panelist. Email have a call in number. I wonder. And we'll check. Oh, did she dial in, but she should have a specific, a different number to dial in too. When you guys receive those. Oh, she must be in. Is she in? No, she dropped off. Hang on. Let's see here. Maybe she's going back in. Yeah. Yeah, there, there are specific numbers listed there, Michelle. I don't know if you're able to text her one. Yes, let me do that. So that just brings up a quick announcement. I'm so sorry that the, when you guys receive the notifications that I send out. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. I don't know if it's a day before the meeting or an hour before the meeting that those are designated specifically for you. So please do not share them. So. That's that. Yeah. Oh shoot. So the ones that I just gave to her to come in that were on mine. Is that, is that okay to share with her? She'll probably come in as Michelle Miller, but that's fine. You don't want. Okay. So, you know, you can. She came in. Welcome. And I'm sorry, did you still need the ropes, Michelle? I went ahead and took them down, but I. I think we're okay unless anybody else would like to see them again. All right. So I think we can move on from our meeting etiquette unless anybody has anything. To add. I think we can move on. Please do. And otherwise we'll move right on. All right. So Dr. Jemisin, do you want to talk about the report and presentation? What we've done. Since the last meeting on Monday. Thank you for such an amazing turnout on Monday. That was a surprise. And a very good working session. And Michelle and I. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Michelle reviewed and sort of finalized and sent. The, the report off to our appropriate folks on, on Wednesday. So that has been submitted. And we are invited to the meeting on Monday. And we can all be present. That was, that was mentioned. So I think we can all be present. And I think we can all be present. And I would like. Yes, Jennifer. I believe that you all are first on the agenda. So you should be going first for at 630. And then I don't, I don't know how much time, how much time do you guys think you need for the presentation? Lynn asked us to keep it. Like eight to 10 minutes. And then they'll have a period for counselor questions. And in terms of other. Assembly members being present. I think it's. Requested that the co-chairs do the speaking and answering the questions, but that anyone who would like to be brought in as a panelist should let us know because we'll have to provide your. We'll have to send you an email address to Athena so that she can send you a link. A specific link to be a panel. So either let us know tonight if you know, you're going to be present or just send us an email. If you could tonight or tomorrow morning to let us know. Does anyone know for sure that they're going to be there because I have your email addresses. So I can. Dr. Shabazz is you don't, you're not sure. It depends on what time it is. Okay. Great. So we'll, we can just, you know, what I might do is just send all of the emails and everyone will get a panelist and then you come if you can make it that, and we'll try to let Jen know in advance too. Oh, well, actually, Jen, you're not there for those meetings. So anyway, we'll figure it out. And I did want to add that we sent a press release. We sent it with the report and links to the packet and a link for people to come to the presentation to all of the news outlets. We sent it to the League of Women Voters. We sent it to the racial equity task force. So Dr. Demetri Shabazz, we've received that. We sent it to a bunch of people so that we can try to engage as many folks as possible and get participation and have people see what we're working on. Yes. Jennifer. So I can put it, you put it as a news and announcements on the website. That was one of the questions that you had emailed me a few moments ago. And then I would send the rest of it to Breanna. She has a large press release base that she typically, that we typically send all of the press releases too. So if they receive it twice, they receive it twice. Okay. Good call. Thank you. So Dr. Jemison, I didn't have anything else to add on that. Okay. Alexis did email and say that she would need to speak. First, because she has to leave early, but being that she's not here, I guess we'll just dive into the community healing piece. And then if she comes, we'll let her go ahead and give us an update on the reckoning in Boston. Does that. We vote on the minutes. Just doesn't take that long, but as an air, air time to give her a chance a few more minutes to get here. I think that's a great idea. Yes. Awesome. All right. So we, we now have enough folks who were here for October 13th. So we can vote on approval of the minutes. Okay. So. Emotion that we approve the minutes of October 13th, 2021, which when your packet for review. Dr. Shabazz seconds, I think. Great. And so Michelle, we'll vote, we'll go. Go around and vote, Michelle. Yes. Dr. Shabazz. Yes. Okay. Thank you. Yes. Yes. And Yvonne, we'll ask you because you're here, but. I'm staying. Great. Awesome. So. That's five. Yes. And one of saying. So passed or approved. Terrific. All right. Community healing. Yes. Thanks Jennifer for getting those. So community healing. In the packet, you would have seen the community safety working group report. Which made it an extra large packet and. So just a little bit of background at the community safety working group. Came out with their final recommendations just a couple of weeks ago. And one of the recommendations was a community wide healing process. And I think it's really important. I think it's really important. I think it's really important. I encourage people to take a look and. Read. The background on that and what the recommendation is. They worked with Dr. Barbara Love. In coming up with that. And. I personally think it's a. Really powerful and important. Step in the. Reparation process. And. The community. Continue with its racial justice and equity work. In a more. Powerful. I don't know what word, but in a better, in a way that sort of. I think it's really important to have more participation and a landscape that. Might be easier for everybody to work in. So I did call Dr. Barbara Love. And I had a conversation with her and. We talked about. The sort of purpose in her mind of having a community wide healing process. What that may look like. I mean, I don't know if she felt that that was something that needed to happen first before a community wide healing process would take place. And so the, the, the kind of what's on the table right now is how does this body. Feel they, that they. Can participate in this process or facilitate this process or partner with other committees. So I think it's a good idea to move that process forward. Yes, I want to. May I speak. Yes. I want to. Support the direction of what you're raising and call attention to page 41. Under the community safety working group. And it's on liberatory visioning. For town of Amherst. And I think that the vision. I think should be. The first lines that come after the vision. What's there right now as a kind of subhead is, is not, is not well written. It says dismantling and healing white supremacy in Amherst. And creating a community of liberatory consciousness. And the second line that comes after that is, whether it's the idea of white supremacy in Amherst. Healing the harm. Cause by white supremacy. So I would just say dismantling white supremacy in Amherst. And healing the harm. Or the harm it caused. That could be your subhead. Whereas where. What, the way it reads right now there. I wouldn't recommend that. So I know that's, that's, forward in the direction I wouldn't hold on to that descriptor as what we're working toward. It should be what those words that come right after the vision. So that's just a little proofreading eye on it. But overall, I hope this can cohere and I certainly look forward to any, you know, thing that Dr. Barbara Love would work with us to create. Yeah, so isn't this committee disbanded right now? The committee who came up with that report is not in place anymore, right? I think they expired. Yeah, so basically, you know, we're still in business. So whatever the next steps are, certainly, I think it's something that we could take on under our own banner and include in the work that we're doing. And then the new committee's going to have to follow us because they're not together yet, right? True? So I agree. I think that healing is really important. Whatever that plan is for healing needs to be something that's joint between our committee and maybe other committees. And as Barbara said, the whoever the new diversity director is. But I feel like this body and that new body needs to keep the town on track with it. Dr. Jemison is here. Oh, Irv, I saw and also people are getting moved around. Did we just lose Dr. Jemison? Yeah, I'm here. Alexis joined us. We agreed that when you joined us, we would stop so that you could offer the update on the screening so that you could then get back to whatever you need to. So please. Okay, thank you. I appreciate you guys. I'm sorry for being late. It's just crazy over here. So I gave a lot. So I'm basically going to be reiterating what I said in the email. And there's just a few things that we all need to sort of think about in moving forward. I'm sorry. Can you guys still hear me? Yes. Okay, so sorry. I'm just trying to read from my email just so that I'm being consistent. So the first thing is that we have a date for the screening. The date is December 9th. And it is going to be hosted. And I'll explain what this means in a second. It's going to be hosted by them. So that means Coffee and Marga and then the people that made Reckoning in Boston, they are going to be hosting it. And so that can go one of two ways that we can decide as a group. But just to give a little bit more clarity on what that means. So they will host a synchronous screening either on Zoom, the whole thing on Zoom, or through their website that is connected to a donation option that will then be gifted to the AHRA. It will not be available for broadcast on TV. The time that it's going to be on December 9th, we haven't decided an exact time yet. But they're hoping to do a lunchtime thing because people are going to be shopping for holiday gifts and whatnot. And so we tried to avoid the evening. And Coffee had also said that a lunch and learn sort of situation would be a good idea. And so that's what they were leaning towards. And then the panel discussion that will happen afterwards will happen on Zoom. And that's going to be led by Coffee as well as James. I didn't get a last name, but he's the director and then some assistants. And that panel discussion will happen on Zoom. And so the choice that we have to make with regards to that is basically our preference. Do we want the entire thing to be on Zoom so that we get the most sort of audience as possible for the panel? Or do we want the screening to happen on their website? And then there'd be a link to the Zoom that people can go to afterwards. So that's one thing that we get to decide. And then the other thing, okay, so just reading on what I said, I said it would also probably make sense to have Coffee come back and talk with us as a group because she had mentioned her interest in our project and specifically it happening in Amherst and that she would contact the fellowship of reconciliation about possibly documenting our process amongst the larger conversation of equity and racial and justice in Massachusetts. And that Coffee is interested in a co-partnership with the AHRA to support our long-term intentions. And that another thing that's an option is having Amherst media record our viewing, us as a group viewing the screening as a group in person in some space, whether that's in the studio here, whether that's in the, you know, a Roman town hall or something like that, you know, that's also another option for us if that is something that we want as part of our documentation process. And then lastly, what we need to think about as a group and as individuals, you know, is who needs to be there at this screening? Who are we inviting to this event? Who are the important people, including people with money, who would make meaningful impact? This is a free event. So we also want to think about who in our communities we want to include in this conversation, especially like, you know, in the discussions afterwards that Coffee said a lot of the, you know, critical thinking and the breakthroughs happen then. And that lastly, the invitations for this screening should come from the AHRA. So of course, some wording would need to go with that and would be necessary. So that's sort of like, I think that was four things all together. So there's our invitation to the screening. Who should be invited to the screening? So that's people with money, but also people amongst the community that should be made aware of these things that are happening. And this is probably a good way to, you know, for outreach. And then three, are we bringing Coffee back to sort of talk with us and talk about the future of our, you know, a possible partnership with Coffee and the Fellowship of Reconciliation? And then the last thing is, do we want this to be all on Zoom or do we just want the panel to be on Zoom and the screening itself to be through their website? Thank you, Alexis. Thank you so much for all of that work. Yes, Yvonne. I'd like to start with maybe the simplest thing that could lead into conversation with the other topic. So the simplest thing is whether we want it to be on Zoom for more broad access or not. And so there's a couple of red flags for me. I don't necessarily agree with the Lunch and Learn option because I think there's lots of people who won't use their lunch hour to actually attend this. So, you know, my initial reaction is, yes, you can do it at lunchtime, but there should be another time where we engage our audiences with this so that there are other folks who may not be able to come. So I guess I'm saying that that would mean that we would have to plan something in addition to this that happens at another time when other folks can come. Okay, so that's my first thing is I think it should be on Zoom so there's more access and that we can invite people and people can comment and all that kind of stuff if they need to. But I also think that since it's happening at lunchtime that we need to be able to offer something else that happens at another time on another date so that we can also invite those people who can't come. And I don't know if that's a it sounds like a bigger deal than it really is. It could be as simple as recording it and then re-broadcasting it while we are there to talk it over with people. Okay, she's shaking her head no. Yeah, so I can speak to that. So that's great. Yes, we cannot record it. So what they explained is that it's actually going to be airing on television starting January 15th. The moment that happens it is it's pretty much out of anybody's hands and it's not going to be available for us for a private screening. So we kind of have between December 9th when we definitely are doing the screening, which I could ask them if we can hold a second screening on that day in the evening. I can ask them about another day but that that week a second week of December was what they were hoping for. No, I think if it's going to be public in January then we can do anything we want with it in January. You know, it's public. Yeah, so we can have another like conversation after the film is released because it's going to be on TV, right? Well, yeah, so it's going to be aired by yeah, so BH but I'm just saying that if we're going to use this as a as a way to let's say engage or educate people that December 9th is sooner than you think. Anyway, I mean it's coming up pretty soon. We're already in November. So if we want to engage people and raise money, as you said, invite people who might like be able to give money, I agree we might we could focus on on engaging donors or those you know that's really small group but I think we shouldn't drop the ball as far as having this be a longer term engagement process that can happen after the movie is is is released in January. So we can move we could also move into the spring. Yeah, so let me just clarify though that they said that once that once it's aired, whoever is airing it is pretty much going to have like we would have to go to the broadcaster at that the syndicator at that point, rather than just working directly with the you know the producers. And so that's going to complicate a little bit our reuse of it for a private or whatever screening, or to be able to get donations from a which I don't know if I was clear enough. So I just want to make sure that for the donations, they are collecting the donations and they will be gifted to the HR the AHRA. And this is the first time that they will be holding a screening and collecting donations as a gift to another group, which is kind of special. This is this is all interesting, but it seems to me that when you hold a screening, it's a private event. It's a fundraising event. So it's also an event where which honors those people with being able to screen it before the general public gets it. In this sense, it's a also a fundraising. You know, having said all that, I think that we as a group need to decide is there a value and screening it before public release. I mean, that's the first decision we have to make because if we says there's a value there, then we can go on to some other things in relationship to that because if it's a value, then we say, yeah, we definitely want to do a screening. And besides that, what is interesting is that they're saying, well, all the money they raise, they're going to get back to AHRA, which is kind of interesting in a lot of different ways because one of the first thoughts that came into my mind is, hey, what are they? What is their fundraising goal? Do they have a specific amount of money in mind as A, and then B, good heavens. There's all kinds of money floating around via ARPA for this kind of event. And, you know, so I guess when I think about it in my mind, I'm thinking, you know, what do they want? If it's a fundraiser for us in essence, then why make it a fundraiser if we don't want the funds or don't need the funds at this particular point in time? Dr. Shabazz? Thank you. So I just first of all want to say thank you, thank you, thank you, Alexis, for being the go-between and getting this information together for us to present to us. So thank you for that, Alexis. I would just like to revisit really my spirit with the whole project because I haven't pre-screened it. I'm going on our co-chairs that brought this before us. I'm going on the conversation with the person that's affiliated with the project that we all had. And that's to say that, you know, in terms of my spirit with it, this is Boston and we're here in Amherst. I was always in terms of if this is a matter of just kind of endorsing whatever they're setting up and those who can join in and be on hand and participate good, those from Amherst that are interested good, we're putting just our name, our imprimatur, you know, behind what they organize and those who can, you know, from Amherst based upon our encouragement that can arrange whatever the time that's set, whatever, you know, that they can go and actually be live in that moment then good. And we're giving our name to that. All of the gifting and donation, it's a donation option. So however that works, that works. I think we need to check in on how it is we receive anything as best I understand it would be a check to the town of Amherst with a little earmark or a little subject line saying AHRA, but I don't know that AHRA anybody can fundraise for us right now. We're not, I mean, not now it's not that type of party. We're a four month, we have a four, five month window to get some work done. And yeah, the screenings and the community healings and all these sessions, this is part of our work. But, you know, this one I thought was just low hanging fruit. This was somebody coming to us saying, you know, I mean, I'm hearing it as folks from Boston opening a conversation with us about something they think can be impactful to our community as we are doing our work. But I didn't see it as something that suddenly becomes a big work effort for us. I don't have the bandwidth for that, I can tell you personally, but if somebody's putting on something and we think it could be of interest and we want to put our name, if there's a motion to say put our name behind, you know, directing Amherst folks to take a look at what they're doing at this piece that they've organized and the panel, then good and let that come forward. But if it's us having to produce something, getting out press releases, getting out programs, you know, that's not what I originally kind of envisioned. So that's my piece on it. Thank you. So I'll say I will add my thanks, Alexis. And I kind of just wanted to chime in on a few specific things. I like the idea of keeping it all in Zoom. So first of all, I do think it's a value. I like the idea of keeping it all in Zoom. It's easier to keep people as you transition through these things, at least in the types of Zoom presentations I've experienced before. With respect to the donations, I was also thinking of this as if people watch this, if they're into it and they want to make a donation, that makes sense. I wasn't expecting that they would raise a particular amount or anything. But it might be just really interesting information about how many people are paying attention, how many people are willing to throw a few dollars at that. When Michelle and I met with Paul Backelman, one of the things that he said was that we should probably have a gift account set up for this organization. So that is something that we need to look into. If I'm thinking about it correctly, you know, if the gift account is appropriate for to receive these types of funds, that is where money that came in donations could go. But I'd have to do some more research and ask some more questions about that. The piece of this that I'm confused about is them wanting to sort of join with us in some sort of documentation process. I feel like that's a little bit aside from what can or cannot happen on December 9th. So I'm willing to sort of, you know, table that discussion or maybe have it when when coffee comes to speak with us again. But I feel like this is, as you said, Dr. Shabazz, some low-hanging fruit and something that we can do. And it's a great way to maybe sort of get people engaged and get people thinking about it at a time when they are then going to go home and possibly discuss it at, you know, the dinner table over holidays and things like that. So, you know, whether that's a reach of 50 people or, you know, 5000 people, I think it would be interesting. So, Alexis and then Irv. Yeah, I just I just wanted to talk to a few things. And I guess I'm a little bit surprised because coffee had come to talk to all of us and we had decided at that point that exploring this was of value. And so I guess I am a little bit surprised if there's, if we're still talking about whether or not we should do this, but also that this wasn't really something that we had to do anything for other than thinking about who we were going to invite. And then that the invitation for these people should be coming from the AHRA because this is to support the AHRA and that coffee was hoping that, you know, that she's hoping to just support what we're doing and that this screening could help to, you know, fundraise for our purposes. And that there isn't really, there isn't a goal. It's really just can I, can they be of help in some way to our goal? And that's, you know, it was sort of opening up this conversation. And that's why I was asking, you know, if we should talk about having coffee come back and talk to us because she is interested in a longer-term partnership, you know, and we can decide the ways in which that can be helpful for us, whether it is helpful or not. But we had been talking about documenting this process anyways. And so I felt that if she and her production crew was, you know, if they were already having an interest in, you know, you know, in this larger conversation of equity and reparations in Massachusetts, that they were already considering doing that for us, that would take more of the weight off of us and more of the labor off of our actual members. And so I felt like bringing that up just so that you guys knew that coffee was interested, not just in, you know, you know, throwing this movie about Boston at us just to, you know, whatever. She's really interested in a long-term partnership with us if that is something that we are interested in. I also have to say that I, I'm sorry, I have to go again. But, but yeah, I, if I'm, I'm interested though in having, if anybody has anything that they, I don't know how maybe, maybe Jennifer asked the best way to do this. But if anybody has anything that they would like me to relay or ask to coffee or Marga through email or something, I can definitely try to get those answers by next meeting if I, if I have them over the weekend or something. So I just wanted to say that. Thank you so much, Alexis. Thank you for presenting that. And we will definitely continue the conversation here and make sure we get any questions to you. It does sound to me like there are two things happening, one being the December 9th viewing and then one being the longer term. And so I think having coffee come back isn't urgent because I think we can sort of deal with the logistics for December 9th. And I appreciate the opportunity actually to work with a professional production crew in terms of documenting our work and, and that, that offer. So I am very much in favor of moving forward with the December 9th. I can say that reparations for Amherst has a very large mailing list at this point. And so I think we can easily get it out to lots of people that would be very eager in addition to the other, you know, lists that the town has if they can be used for this kind of thing, especially since it is coming from us, I think they probably could. So I think we can get it out, get the word out and get a good amount of people to come to it. And I'm very much in favor of it and there to support you, Alexis, in any way if we do as we move forward with this. All right, Irv, I did see that you had your hand up. Did you, are you, are you okay? Or are you on a? I'm all right. Okay. Are there any other comments about this screening? Are we moving ahead with the screening and will the logistics of like what Dr. Shabazz was speaking about transfer of funds and what that would mean? Do we have, I guess this might be a question for Jennifer. Do we have a means with which to accept monies in that way from them? So Dr. Jemison was correct. We would create a gift account for the assembly. And so any monies that go into that gift account only are used by the assembly. My thought process would be that because you guys are short, the charge for the assembly is short that you guys use, that you guys use tell that the next group can utilize those funds if needed for something. So great. But if you guys want to do that, let me know and I will get the ball rolling. I mean, it's probably a good idea to have one anyways, regardless of what happens with this, with the reckoning in Boston, but it's a probably a good idea to have one anyways. So we need to vote on that or can we do that by a cent? Or can we just say yes? I think someone should just say, Jen, can you set up a gift account and then we'll just go set up a gift account for the African heritage reparations. Can you do that? Can you do that, Jen? I can work on that. Thank you. And I think I think I heard you say Dr. Jemison that Paul had said, you know, in our meeting that that was, yeah. I believe that was encouraged. So we have one for Juneteenth, we have one for the Human Rights Commission, because they have, you know, the hero awards, which people donate to. So there are committees that have some. And I wonder if with respect to language, Yvonne, I know that you had put together some languaging for our report around the screening, right? Was that you that put that together, something? Yeah. So maybe we can build on that and sort of frame it to invite people to participate and also to donate if they would like to. All right. So Dr. Jemison, what what do you think in terms of the order of the rest of our items? Do you have something that you'd like to jump to now? I did want to make a comment personally about community healing. And I wasn't sure if there was still that felt like we were quite in the middle of that. So I don't know if there will be further comments. I'll try to be brief. So I support a community healing process. I'm very glad that there's such a concrete proposal on the table instead of just that we should do this thing. My concern is around timing and sort of what our purpose is compared to that specific activity, right? I would tend to think that community healing would not be a one time thing. But if, for example, the goal is to have some sort of community healing event that happens before our charter is done and we decide that that's purposeful, then yes, we can sort of support and promote or even make that happen if that's what's being asked of us. But also it feels like this was sort of the vision of a different group and we should be a supporting role. And if that group isn't together again until after we've disbanded, I am reluctant to commit a successor group to do that. I like to think they'd be delighted and supported. But I also think that it's the decision of those people. So I just wanted to express those minor concerns. I agree. I agree. And I think that the most I think we can do at this time is exactly what Dr. Jamison just said, which is we support that idea. You know, I'm not sure how specific we can get because like I was saying before, that other group is already disbanded and our time will be done. You know, so I think that we can make strong recommendations for the next group to kind of do it. And I think that that's, I mean, I'd be behind that. But again, we wouldn't be, we wouldn't be on the committee to actually move that forward. Just to be clear, then the successor group of the Community Safety Working Group should be up and running, I would think, and Jennifer, you can correct me if I'm wrong on this, but within a month, a month and a half, I wouldn't imagine it would be longer unless there was a problem with appointing people to it or finding people to appoint to it. So I think that the timeframe we're thinking about here is that group will be up and running. Of course, they'll need some time to get settled and wrap their minds around the recommendations that the Community Safety Working Group made. And so maybe it's just sort of keeping our eye on it and tracking it to make sure that the next group, if they need support moving forward with it, that that is available. And yeah, Jennifer, I don't know if you have signed it. I don't know if you have something to add in terms of timing. And then I see Dr. Chavaz's hands up, too. So the successor group should be, hopefully, together and working in about, I would say a month and a half to two months, just because of the process that had the vetting process for it. So once that's done, I think that all of the groups or all of the boards and committees that want to help move forward should work together to keep this going. And I agree that with Dr. Jemison, this is not just a one-time deal. It's a process over an X amount of time. And so, therefore, many groups can be involved. It's like Dr. Chavaz and then Earth? Yes. It's only to say that I do read it as saying it's an extended process. I do understand that it's the source of it, but I think it has come up from the outgoing group, and as well as just come up in the community, where does community safety concerns fit into a picture of municipal reparations? And so it's always then been about, yes, it fits. And we endorse this kind of work ongoing. But no, our seven-month life is very clear. And that's even kind of what governs the spirit of things for me with screenings and whatnot. But as far as the documentation and of where the community is at, I think there ought to, I want to project a vision within our vision that we ought to look toward some type of community hearing, community listening session of our own as a part of our own process toward getting our ideas out, getting our planning thoughts out to the council in June. We haven't had the time between just getting organized two months ago to now to really do that. And we see these, but I do think at some point we ought to think about a kind of community engagement in the work of our planning process with the community, for the community. And I definitely would, within that projection, be prepared to work toward that for sure. Cool. Thank you. Irv? It's really hard for me to wrap my head around the healing process when I don't really have any specifics in terms of how this would take place, who would be involved with planning it, the form of it, the presentation of it, the way that it would be presented, and the kinds of participation that would be or not be required of audiences, etc. It's very hard for me to think of this without having some specifics in mind. And usually when you're doing something like a healing process, there are really specific kinds of objectives, goals, strategies, and tactics that the one will be employing in relationship to doing this with an audience of any size. So I might have lost as to saying, all right, yeah, I really support the idea, but I don't know what there, what it really is in terms of healing. What is it? I appreciate that, Irv. I can direct you to the report from the Community Safety Working Group. I read that. I read it. And again, the overall thrust of it doesn't give me any kind of specifics as to how this is going to be carried out. And a lot of other things that just need to be spelled out other than the broad objectives. And I can speak to, because I talked to Dr. Love about that, I think you're making a good point, Irv. There is a proposal that was in a larger proposal that the Community Safety Working Group put together. But I think based on my conversation with Dr. Love, there was a lot more that would be happening with respect to planning that and really thinking that through. So I think that it's more about is this body wanting to support that process if we are so able to and we're still up and running and helping whether it's Dr. Barbara Love or whomever to design that with the successor group of the Community Safety Working Group with the Human Rights Commission and others that, like Jennifer said, there will probably be a lot of stakeholders that would want to be involved in that discussion. So I don't think that we need necessarily to even, you know, go any further than that at this point. It's really just wanting to bring it to you that it's something that the Community Safety Working Group recommended and as Dr. Shabas says, a reparation process and community safety are intersectional. And so how do we support that? And I also agree very much with, I think it was Dr. Shabas that said we will need to start thinking about once we get through this presentation on Monday and the financial meetings that are happening in November, we'll want to start thinking about how we can reach out and engage the community in some sort of listening. So I see that to be on the horizon in the very near future. And Dr. Shabas, do you have your hand up? I think you, yeah. Yeah, I do want to go deeper into it. I think this is the time and place to go deeper than I and I fully expect Dr. Irv Rhodes to raise the tough questions about it, because let me tell you, if this healing work, this extended process doesn't involve the school district, which you are now on the board on the committee, the school committee of, this is the vision I have, this idea of healing the harm of reparations, of repair, ought to be reverberating in the school district. You see, and we need this process of healing of the harm of reparations of repair to be on the desk of the school superintendent. That's the way I feel about it. So for me, I expect tough questions from Dr. Irv Rhodes about this, because if it doesn't involve the school district, then I don't know what we're wasting time talking about any of this. I want to acknowledge Irv. I guess I also want to thank you for that impassioned statement, Dr. Shabazz. I just want us to make sure we think about our ropes as we continue this conversation. Irv, go ahead. Dr. Shabazz, I really, really agree with everything you said, but I don't want to take a box that is empty to the school committee to vote on. I want to know what's in that box. I want to know how in terms of what's in that box. So that's where my dilemma lies, is I don't have enough information, and Barbara would agree with me. Barbara and I come out of the same school of organizational development, and so therefore Barbara would say, hey, here's what it's all about. Here's how we're going to conduct this. Here are the participants who are going to be there. Here is going to be the people who are going to be leading this. Here are the kinds of things and outcomes we expect. Here is the way it's going to be presented. Here is going to be the media by which it's going to be presented, etc., etc., so that when it comes to someone in terms of making the decision whether it is something we want to be participating in, then we have something in our hands that we can look at, view, study, and say, yeah, this is something we want to be participating in, or hey, or hey, maybe if you change this, we will do it. But anyway, you can't deal with a ball of fluff. We need to have something concrete. So can I make a recommendation and put this out to the group here? And I do feel very strongly that a reparation group, this is within the purview, well within the purview. In fact, I really believe that it should be inspired by the group and it was already inspired by the community safety working group. And I would like to double down on that personally. But a recommendation that we might, that I might put out there is what about, and maybe not immediately, but once we get through the budget stuff, what about inviting Dr. Love to come and talk with us and give a little bit more context and a little bit more an opportunity for us to ask these these questions that I think are really important and how the school committee fits in and how the town fits in and how we all work together on this. Is that, is anyone opposed to us putting, not immediately, but putting that out to Dr. Barbara Love as something to consider maybe in late December or after the holidays? I guess as a counter proposal, I suggest if you're conversing with her that either maybe we're invited there. I'm very wary about this committee taking on the responsibility for figuring out exactly how this is supposed to run. It was proposed by them. I think it's great that we can ask them the hard questions and I would prefer to use their meeting time to do that. Quite frankly, that's just my suggestion. Jennifer, and then we can do Irv. So their successor group, the CSSJC, will have two members from the community safety working group to make sure that those recommendations follow through. And I would let, I mean, my first, sorry, my first thought is, you know, that's their vision, that's their, their baby, let them lead. But again, the goal is to keep things moving. So, you know, I'll leave it at that, I guess. You know. Irv, thank you Jennifer. I mean, it seems like we're debating something and talking about something and using a lot of our precious time in terms, because that's the successor group. This is their baby. They haven't succeeded that to anyone. So it seems to me that our first conversation should be with that group, this successor group, about us joining in with them to, to participate in this if that's something we want to do. But certainly we shouldn't be taking this amount of time discussing something that's not in our, in our, in our, in our wheelhouse. So with that, I would like to suggest we move to another topic unless there's, all right. And Michelle, I'm comfortable going to successor group just because as a topic, just because we've come up so much in this, in our recent discussions. So we have talked about this, we've mentioned this a lot that we don't go on forever. And yet we're hoping that reparations will certainly go on, if not forever for, you know, for a long time after us. My hope is not necessarily that we will decide what a successor body is tonight, but really just to have maybe 15 minutes or so of kind of open discussion about what folks think already it should be since we've got, you know, lots of experience out of Amherst people here, or if they just, you know, sort of inside our understandings about this. One thing that I will, a couple of things that I will bring up that we know are happening already that there's going to be a sort of DEI two person division that's, that's, that's in the works for the town of Amherst on whether or not some sort of administration of if there are funds, the towns hold, like would we need just sort of a person or a designated town officer who always knows where that is, or should there always be a designated town body that's decision making. And then if there is fundraising or if there are funds that can come from another place that cannot come directly to the town, one, do we need to have a body that's capable of accepting those some sort of nonprofit. And, you know, sort of what does that mean to have to kind of parallel types of administration, etc. So those are just some of the things that I thought or heard based on previous discussions but I'm hoping we can get all of those tough questions and, you know, creative thinking out of this group on what a successor body or successor group to us would need. Yvonne. Hi, I would, I feel like it's premature. I feel like there's work that where we have to do and that spending time at this, particularly at this point, planning the successor group, you know, maybe, maybe I'm the unpopular opinion, but I would love to learn more about the funds and what the funds update is and how we're getting money and how we can work through some of these other items on the agenda and table the successor group conversation until after we've figured some of the other things out of the committee. One thing I'll add, can you hear me? Can I be heard? Yeah. One thing I'll add is when we talked to Paul, he expressed that it would be a good idea for Dr. Jemison and I to think about sort of strategic plan to propose to the body for our work moving forward. So I'm building off of the work process that Dr. Jemison started. And so Dr. Jemison and I are going to be meeting a couple of times between now and the next meeting so that we can create a plan to bring forward at our next meeting to really help us. Because I think we're getting a little bit lost here and away for a moment, like where I agree that this seems to come up quite a bit, the successor group actually. Somehow it keeps coming up, but yet it feels I would be perfectly comfortable with holding off on further discussion until we've had a chance to create more of a strategic plan for the group to move forward. Yeah, I feel like we haven't actually hit a foundation where we can actually think honestly about a successor group that could take over for us because we actually haven't set up that foundation to leave something substantive for another group to come in and take over. And I think we're working towards that, but I think that for me anyway, I feel it's premature to say, oh, this successor group should come in and do this, even though we haven't figured out what that thing is yet. That I don't know if Irv or Dr. Shabazz had their hand up first. So I think it may have been Irv. Milk, I want you to go because there's something else I wanted to say. Let me say this. I've refuted myself. I've worked an opposite proof on this. Originally, one idea, foundational idea, I thought we had discussed or I'll put it back on the table, a community reparations committee. Now I refute that and I say, you know what, why don't we just take over the or the recommended successor group be the community preservation committee of the town of Emmer's and add a category to the historic and everything add a category of reparations. And we just recommend that be the successor. So I'm saying their ideas on the table, their ideas on the table, whether it's a parallel group set up on a model of the community preservation committee or preservation act, or whether you could actually reconsider, reconceptualize the community preservation committee and that act to be a community reparations or incorporate reparations as a component of that. So there are things on the table about a successor model, I'll say, rather than just a successor group. You're right. Neither of those possibilities on the table could probably be done immediately from our recommendation in June by a flip of the switch. There are all kinds of legal considerations, state governmental considerations. But so maybe there's an intervening group, you might want to imagine, if we went with a C, a CRA model, Community Reforations Act model. There's, there's, but again, our purpose, we're already, we're a strategic planning body as I see it. I don't think we need a strategic plan for a strategic planning body. We need to be, to create the strategic plan. That's our work over the seven months we have left, to create the strategic plan. And we, what we're still at a point right now, this is what I hear Yvonne, I hear people say it's premature because there's, we have to see what, what is the possible scope of action here as a strategic planning force. So we have to look at the strengths, the weaknesses, the possibilities, and put a view out there. And so for me, it, definitely, I still, I continue us to still look at the Community Preservation Act, the community, as a community reparation, a model for community reparations. I, I don't know. I, I'm trying to figure out where we are here and what, what is our topic of conversation and what are we trying to achieve by this conversation? I mean, where are we, what is, in other words, help me here. It's, it's, it's getting, it's an hour into this meeting or so. So I want to know what, you know, what are we trying, what's our objective here in terms of this conversation? Are we trying to come through some kind of agreement on whatever? I don't know what that is now because there's a lot of different conversations. So I would like to get some clarity as to a way forward in this meeting to getting to some either decision point or saying, hey, we're going to table this, whatever that is, because right now I'm, am I lost? So every time we talk about whether or not this body is going to do or participate in a certain thing, one of the things that comes up is when it's going to happen and whether or not this body will exist to do it. And if we won't, we are, you know, it's a question of, are we committing some unknown successor group or model to do this thing? Because it comes up so often, like literally every meeting, I thought maybe we should try to talk about it. I absolutely hear that it feels premature for various reasons. And I hear what Dr. Shabazz said about our purpose is to put together a strategic plan. That part of that strategic plan is going to have to be a proposal for a successor body or model. So that's just something to keep in mind. I did start off this particular portion, but let me reiterate. I was not intending for us to come to a conclusion, but to get some ideas. Dr. Shabazz gave us two of the ideas that he's been thinking about. If anybody else has ideas about this, I'd like to hear them because then we've got this little group of ideas that we can consider at another time. And if nobody has any more ideas, totally fine with me if we move on. Irv? All right. So I really thank you for that. If we are thinking about or wanting to come up with a way for our work to go forward into the future, i.e. the fruits of our work, the kinds of things that we're doing or the fruits of our work is obviously going to be the funding that we wish to lead. So if I boil it down to that, then there are a number of mechanisms, legislative mechanisms that can be used by the town council to ensure that the funds that we identify live on way beyond us and continue to contribute to the work of reparations. Those things, those are known things. There are known ways of doing that. And I'd be very happy to lay out that with you at some point and also bring in other people from the finance committee to assist in that. But there are a number of ways to do that if that is what our wish and desire is. And if we really want that to be our wish and desire, that's exactly what we want to do. And we define it and target it that way, that we want funds to be distributed in a way that we think they should be distributed way beyond our existence. Then we can talk about that and there are ways to make that happen. That was very helpful. Thank you, Irv. I hadn't even been thinking about exactly the structure that keeps the funds going. So it's great to know that we've got that resource. Yvonne. Yes, I'd like to, can we keep this on the agenda and revisit it maybe at a later meeting? And I, you know, I have a motion that we move on to the funds part of the agenda, because I think that might help inform what our conversation might be about next time when we revisit successor groups. Sounds like a plan. All right. Dr. Jemisin, did you have a particular place? And again, I just want to reiterate that we are going to think deeply over the next week before we meet again in terms of Dr. Jemisin and I will, in terms of presenting and proposing to this group strategy for us to really get everything done and move forward and maybe even create a matrix of some sort, something that we can really feel grounded with and then receive your feedback on that. But Dr. Jemisin, did you have a particular place you wanted to start in terms of the financial updates? No, I think we can just go through. Okay. Well, two really important meetings are coming up that we are going to want to talk about our involvement in. So there's the presentation of financial indicators, indicators of the budget. I just looked and it's listed to be on November 8th at 6.30. So I'm assuming and maybe Alissa or Pat no, but I'm assuming that that's going to be happening in the front in the very start of the meeting, but that's one. So presentation of financial indicators of the budget and then the budget forum is happening on November 15th. And the budget forum is, I believe, and maybe Irv, if you could please speak to this. The budget forum is where people come and talk about what they would like the budget to be used for and things like that to sort of get community input. But Irv, if you have a different sense. That's community input in terms of what people would like to see in the budget. It's also a reaction to that which would be put on the table via the financial indicators meeting and also via what the finance committee will be putting out at that time. It's not only a wish list for some people, but it's also reacting to that which is being put forward. And by the way, and I've said this before, if we want some funding to happen, we need to move expeditiously. And what I mean by that is now we need to make some decisions as to what we want to ask for with specific amounts in mind. Otherwise, we will be left out of the process. We don't want to get into a situation where the town manager gets ready to propose his budget. We want to be in that town manager's budget that he's going to propose. So we don't want to have him be in the position of then coming back and redoing or thinking about redoing. We would like to be in work and concert with him as he's producing this budget. Not only just with him, but with the town council and finance committee. So there's some work that we need to do almost immediately. Okay. And I think it's, I think that the, let me take a look, but yes, agreed. So Irv, I think we could move on then and Dr. Jemison, let me know if this works for you to move on to the ARPA discussion because that's the one that we really need to identify how much we're asking for, what exact formal, we've already gone and stated our interest at the listening session, but now we need to follow up with Sean and the town to let them know exactly what it is this body is asking for with respect to ARPA funds. Shall we still not have an answer about whether or not they can go into reserve? Or we do. I didn't see that. No, you are correct. Dr. Jemison, we don't have an answer yet, but I think based on our conversation with Paul, it was basically they'll get the answer to that, but if it can't go into our stabilization fund, then we'll have to find a different route for you for capturing that money. Exactly. You have to go to 2026. Yes. Exactly. And that's a really important point. One of clarification, what was the reserve question? Could reserve funds? I didn't understand that. The question, so what we had wondered was if we were asking for ARPA money, could it go, could it actually go into the stabilization fund, which we're thinking of as, you know, the source of our, you know, an endowment, something that can just sit and grow. And early tentative answers were no, but we need to do more research. If they can't go into the stabilization fund, we can still request them, but we have to use them by 2026. Thank you. My input to the financial discussion is how do we take, whether with the finance committee or financial offices, how do we school ourselves a little better on some questions about setting a target of 10 million, 20 million, whatever the funding streams are that go into making that cannabis, tax revenue, ARPA, you know, it's the question of the financial question, I think that's begged of us is the recommendation of a target of a fund, how that fund then is managed and how that fund pays out is all part of the piece we need to get a clearer picture from within so that we can make the kind of recommendation to the town council to start themselves to ask these questions. You know, the earmarking discussion, I don't know that that needs to wait till June. A new council is coming in, in January. Why can't this be already on the docket for the new council to take up in January? Okay, the earmarking of cannabis, tax revenue, you know, I'm just struck by Alyssa Brewer and, you know, it being raised again and again, this whole project of cannabis legalization and of sales and of the taxes, there'd been no earmarking. I took that when I heard that as that's providence, that was to create the space for there to be earmarking for repair, for repair. So I'd like us to, yes, really see where we can get the questions answered. We need to answer to come to a clear and decisive vote for us to then recommend, of whatever our recommendation is going to be about the financial instrument, the financial plan, part of this reparations plan. All of the other pieces, I've always agreed, we can add to that, but we have to first clarify the funding piece. Then we can build on top of that all of the other components of our strategic plan. But first is to clarify this money. And so I'm recommending, I want to recommend that we get whatever information we need from within. That's then helping the council itself to begin to get the questions answered they will have to then be able to make a solid recommendation around their process, the various committees of having that earmarking conversation, but in the context of earmarking for as part of municipal reparations. All right, just to go ahead. My answer. All right. So two things. And I want to put this on the floor and as a motion. So I'm making a motion that we strongly suggest to the council, town council, that $200,000 be moved into the stabilization fund from free cash that has been certified. That's one. Two, that the cannabis money that will be forth coming from cannabis sales tax, that that money be moved into the stabilization fund. While we're chewing on that, I just would like to give an update on the stabilization fund question here. So I... Wait a minute, Michelle. The cannabis money has nothing to do with the ARPA money. It's different. Yep. Yeah, no. I understand that. So have you put a motion on the table because it sounds like there are two separate matters that you were addressing? Could you... It's not two separate matters. It's two separate funding streams that we wish to put into the stabilization fund. One is that there's already a free cash has been certified. We wish to have 200,000 of that put into the stabilization fund. That's A. And B, we wish to have money from the cannabis sales tax. And I would say 100% of that money put into the stabilization fund for the use by the AHRA. Jennifer. Yeah. Can we just kind of go back to IRVS thing and then kind of open it up for discussion so that we can follow motion protocol so either someone seconded it or... Right. And then we can open it up for discussion. Absolutely, yes. Thanks. Who would like to second it so we can open it up for discussion? Second. And then IRV, did you have a specific dollar amount from the cannabis money that you were thinking of? Yeah. The cannabis money goes anywhere from 170 to 200,000 dollars. And so I said that 100% of that should be. Okay. That is should be deposited into the stabilization fund for the use of the AHRA. And the reason for that is if we don't put something concrete on the table right now, we're going to be forever looking for someone to come to give us some answers. And we need to start being proactive. If I could just clarify in the discussion, are we in the discussion portion of this now? Okay. Open for discussion. Okay. IRV, so this sounds like we like your motion is leading us to make a recommendation now to the town council that they earmark 100% of the cannabis money for this year. And I don't know if you could clarify that. Yeah. That would be fiscal 23 money. Okay. Yeah. Okay. So from fiscal, so I guess what is sort of getting raised for me is, you know, and thinking I was talking to all your former older women, Rob and Ruth Simmons today about what they did there. And they basically, they asked to claim like the first 10 million cannabis revenue, right? So that was like a big vision, a big asked, you know, that would happen over several years. And so I'm a little bit hesitant personally to make a piecemeal request and recommendation right now. Although I understand why you want to do that. And without three other members of our group here tonight to kind of deliberate on this, I'm a little bit concerned about how a piecemeal request would fit into the larger request of, say, asking for the first X amount in cannabis. Michelle, Michelle, you could, you could say to me in terms of adding on to this, that we request this cannabis money from this day forward. And for the next 10 years, go into the stabilization fund. It doesn't have to be a one, I guess what I'm saying, it doesn't have to be a one time thing. We can make that specific. If you wanted to add that as an amendment, or an addition to my motion that could be entertaining. It's not a piecemeal, because you're right, it shouldn't be piecemeal, it should be for over a longer period of time. Well, and I guess then my concern is without understanding all of the legalities around how the stabilization fund can be, you know, spent and what it's going to look like to take money, get money out of there. I'm just, it feels like a bigger discussion that we need to have. We already understood that the stabilization money requires the two-thirds majority to take out money, and the requests would have to come from somewhere for the expenditures of money. The exact notation in terms of who that money was, who and where it was going to be gone, going to is a whole other matter. But the thing is, as long as we continue to go through these kinds of things, we haven't accomplished one of the things that we need to accomplish right now, is to put something concrete before the council, and we have yet to do that. And I don't know when that's going to happen. Yvonne? I do agree that this could be the time to really do as Irv is suggesting, which is put a proposal, a very strong proposal on the table. I do also agree with Michelle that this is a larger conversation. So it's kind of like, do you bet for 200,000 or do you wait for the 10 million to come in over however many years? So I think there's a balance to be struck, but I do think the time is now for us to take a strong stand. It means actually creating this environment where the town professes their commitment to reparations. I mean, that's the larger question here, because it's a chunk of money. It's going into this stabilization fund. As it is, we don't have, it sounds like we don't have easy access to those funds once they're in the stabilization account anyway. You know what I mean? So part of this seems like, oh, the town needs to make commitment. And this is the commitment we're asking you to make right now. Even though we're not sure right now, I mean, it would be great once that money's in that stabilization fund to actually have a plan for that, for those monies. But I do agree that we could take, I mean, it would be a really bold move, and it would put the town on notice to actually step up and make that commitment right away. Dr. Shabazz, I saw you, when you left the screen, I then went in and saw that you had your hand raised, but so I don't know if that was old. I've got an unstable connection. Can you hear me? Yes. All right, I'm going to turn off video to say that I'm prepared and feel strongly whether we try to craft a motion for tonight or we put charge ourselves with having one for our next meeting. I am, it's clear to me that we ought to recommend that the to have a conversation regarding earmarking, cannabis tax revenues for the municipal reparations plan, equity, whatever term you want to call it, it's neither here nor there. It's to have an actual, I'd say at the meeting where our report, that's an area that ought to be highlighted in our report, is that we are really concerned to move quickly on the committing of funds. So we're just recommending that it begin. It doesn't, and saying we don't, you know, we know these conversations are happening in real time now and not necessarily waiting for a report in in June. So here we are in our October, November check-in, wanting to really highlight that the council should act now to have their discussions, their deliberations. We recommend it and encourage it to begin happening now, particularly with that funding stream, because that funding stream as yet remains earmarked, unearmarked, but I don't know if there may be conversations going on. But it's, so it's our duty to try to influence the conversation by saying that we recommend or want to highlight this from our, in the initial report that we're making to you. I personally would, well, we're still in the discussion of this, it sounds like, but just, I think that it's okay to make a comment now to say that the ARPA funds, we still have to make a decision on how much we're formally asking for, and that is a process that's in play right now, and where decisions are going to be getting made. So I really liked Dr. Chabaz's point about highlighting the broader conversation of cannabis funds being earmarked for a reparative justice process or racial equity, and I think that Dr. Jemisin and I, I've heard that, and I think we can take that and integrate that into our comments. I would like to really move us to get a formal proposal with respect to the ARPA funds, because that is in play right now, and we need to actually get something over to Sean as soon as possible for that as far as I can see. I also will say that Lynn notified me that they will not be, they will not be placing the monies that are going to be moved into the stabilization fund. As agreed last spring, that motion will come from the finance committee, and it is set to not be heard on Monday, but at the following meeting that they have, and so there was a brief conversation about moving the presentation. She did not want to crunch the presentation in with other things that had to happen on the 15th. The 15th is actually, there was a mistake on the website, but I just got clarification that the 15th is the night of the financial indicators and the budget forum, and the night that that motion will be brought forward by the finance committee. So as far as I can see, I would like us to formalize what we have for a proposal for ARPA, and then follow the direction of Dr. Shabazz with respect to the cannabis. Or if I see your hands up, or sorry Dr. Jen. Yeah, it's okay, or it's been waiting for a minute, go ahead. I'm a little bit frustrated because it seems to me that there's a motion on the floor as a B that these are not mutually exclusive. We do not need to be thinking in linear terms that one excludes the other. This motion that I'm making can go forward to the town council in terms of one of our recommendations. It does not mean that other recommendations will not be forthcoming from this council. I guess I'm trying to get across and I think I'm not communicating in a good way is that this financial process is underway. Claims are being made for money right now. As we speak and are being made every day, every day, there is a particular crunch for money and search for money and John hinted at that at that in the last time we had talked to him. If we do not move in an expeditious manner and start to make some claims of our own on some of this money, then it's too bad for us and we need to move and I don't know how to say it any other way. Continue to put it off and put it off and put it off will not do us any good. We will miss the train that is already coming down the tracks. Thank you, Irv. And thank you. I do always appreciate your urgency around financial matters. I just have two things to add to the conversation at this time. Insofar as the motion on the floor is to make a recommendation. One, we have made a statement in the report that has already been filed to the town council making the recommendation about moving the money to the stabilization funds. Michelle and I plan to comment on this during our remarks at that meeting. Further, I believe Michelle just said that she would also take the urgency being felt around the cannabis funds and we can incorporate those into our statement as well that is fully within the scope of the report that we submitted. So we are happy to make that urgency felt not only in the report but publicly in our remarks. So to me it feels a little bit redundant to need to vote tonight on making a recommendation because I feel like we sort of covered that. My second comment is that I would like us to be careful in our language just because X, Y, or Z vote does not happen tonight does not then mean that no further action is taken until June. So you know when we're talking about like we have to move now, yes we do. Sometimes now is tomorrow. Sometimes now is your co-chairs need to get one more piece of information and then you know can do the exact thing you've asked of us. So I just want to you know don't let's not throw ourselves under the bus by saying oh if we don't do this tonight we're not making any more claims on anything till June. So those are my two comments and hands went up all over the place. So leave Dr. Shabazz and then Irv. Yes I just wanted to say I don't know where we are on motions I don't think anything got seconded right now but conversation to the ARPA amount I would have a point of information on that. I'm a little confused. I've heard figures in the millions and then I read something in on the $700,000 range. So I'm not is there any point little more point of information on that? Yes. Thank you Dr. Shabazz. Before you go Irv just wanted to say while you were while your connection was unstable there was a second. So we are in fact discussing Irv's motion at this point but I know we're also eager to get back to ARPA. So we can clarify that as soon as I think we're discussing finish discussing here Irv go ahead. Right you know first in the ARPA funds I want to just separate that because there's some information that we need to get back to that. Second is that I am not talking about June here. I want you all to go back and look at the budget calendar in terms of the budget process so you can see what decisions have to be made by when. So please do that because otherwise you won't understand the urgency of what I'm talking about because if you think it's June then that's wrong. It is now between now and the time the town manager has to put his budget on the table and also to get through the process with the town council to bring that forward so that's part of the town manager's budget. So my sense of urgency is informed by my knowledge of what the budget process is. Is there any further discussion on the motion on the floor? I'm going to take that as a no so shall we vote? Jennifer can I ask you to read the language of the motion again? The motion that we strongly suggest that the town council move 200 that $200,000 be moved into the Stabilization Fund from the free cash and the 100% of the cannabis money to be moved into the Stabilization Fund. All right Yvonne how do you vote? No. All right Dr. Chabaz. Pass please come back to me. Sure. Er? Yes. Michelle? No. Jemison no. Dr. Chabaz sorry we didn't give you much deliberation time. Yes I'm sorry and my unstable connection I did miss a conversation not only the seconding of this so I'm just going to abstain. Okay so that's three noes, one yes, one abstain. I think we can. Can I make a comment? The way that it was reread the implications within the rereading of it I feel like we need to revisit this because I do think it's important for us to make a move and not be stuck. I definitely understand Erv's urgency and I think we should make this a priority for the committee for now. Honestly I do. The only reason I voted no is because of the fact that there are other committee members who haven't actually had a chance to actually think this through and be a part of the conversation and then I think the motion and the strategy behind what we want to achieve needs to be clear. So I would really you know I'm going to urge that we put this as something that's really important at the top of our agenda for the next time and we should have a really deep conversation about what the strategy is and the language for moving this forward as quickly as possible. Thank you for that comment. Erv. Our next meeting is the 11th of November. Is it before that? No. November 11th is a holiday. So when's our next meeting? Jennifer. So November 11th is a holiday and so there's no meeting but you guys can decide to you guys can choose to have a meeting it's Thursday so the earliest I can post for is Tuesday. And the reason I'm saying that is that we're only meeting weekly here weekly and I'll refer you back again to the budget calendar. Just look at it. I'll see if I can bring it up if that's helpful. Is that helpful or no? I think it would be Jennifer and again the 15th these two very important budget meetings are going to be happening so if we can find another time to meet next week and also give Dr. Jemison and I some time to bring something to you all that could help us have a more productive conversation around this because I agree with everything Yvonne just said in that what Erv has said is he's presencing something that's really urgent and I don't think we're just quite there yet to be able to think as Yvonne said with the larger strategy and the language and what's the plan and how are we going to do that so here we go. So why you guys all look at this I just have to be excused for a moment I'm sorry and don't have any in-depth conversation without me because I can't take them. No motions everyone no motions. We promise no talking no question about the Monday meeting so the Monday meeting is is connected to this proposal in here in the packet that talks about the 600,000 of the 700,000 dollars is that correct? No the Monday meeting that where we're presenting at the town council is that what you mean okay so that's we're presenting that final report that we put together. Oh okay yeah and so we'll be highlighting some things in there but anything that is in the report is fair game for the presentation on Monday. Okay so I understand now you're saying that you can highlight the cannabis funds and the ARPA funds those things that we you know and the monies that we want to put in the stabilization fund can be highlighted during that presentation. Exactly. I get that okay. They know strongly. But then on November 15th they're voting on the budget it's a budget meeting. No it's just the very beginning of the budget process so they'll do the financial indicators so I think or maybe you could speak a little bit more to but they'll do that and then have a community feedback session in the same meeting on the 15th and then if you just follow this diagram that Jennifer put up it kind of shows what the other important dates are. The budget will not be due actually until May 1st. The town manager will present it on May 1st but because. So the more hints we put out there by November 15th the better our chances are of it sort of at least people understanding and knowing that you know what our intent is. There is a huge difference between hinting and voting on something that we are taking to the council. Hinting to the council cannot be acted upon by the council. They can't act on hints. They have to act on something that is put before them. That's one. Two. December is budget guidelines. Those budget guidelines are already in formation. Now I guess I'm out of words. I don't I mean my and I don't know how to communicate any more clearly that people are already people programs departments etc are already making claims to various parts of the money that is available including ARPA. They're already laying claims to it. They've already put those things forward. We have not put forward anything and I don't know when that's going to happen. I see Dr. Shabaz's hand. One quick thing I'll say is I think that ideally and I just looked at a couple things here if we can have something formalized in advance of the November 15th meeting with respect to all of this I think then we will be good to go. So if we can find a way to meet next week and formalize a plan for that I think that that's going to be our our best bet and go ahead Dr. Shabaz. Thank you. I am strongly coming to the opinion just hearing the information this evening how if I heard correctly how the if ARPA money's well one thing I thought I heard is can't go in our stabilization fund the other thing I heard it could go into a fund but it would have a shelf life of 2026 and therefore it couldn't go into like an endowment so you know if I heard these things correctly you know I'm really of the mind maybe reparations can't or should not just try to lay claim willy-nilly to every funding source out there if it don't fit you must acquit I mean if it can't go into our fund as we've set it up at this point stabilization or what have you or have limitations or restrictions that it couldn't be part of an endowment campaign then maybe that's just not a source we ought to be trying to to get on the calendar and get in the budget guidelines of and trying to influence toward toward toward the repair of justice fund okay if it's time sensitive if it's in connection to a rescue recovery plan trying to hit critical needs right now maybe that should be the money funding crest program so you know I don't know that we necessarily have to act on everything so the part of the proposal that the the previous motion voted down I guess I did most support is to look at uh uh requesting the conversation begin about looking into earmarking cannabis tax revenues toward a municipal reparations plan okay or racial again the terms don't concern me so much as they could just begin the discussion about earmarking those funds in a way that builds an endowment an endowment campaign for this work to be sustainable but every fund no I don't know that I'm comfortable to say that we're we're do or die gotta gotta suck into you know a reparations fund every little little money coming across the town of Amherst good god whoa oh um okay okay to stop share yes that would be good thank you Jennifer I do agree with you about the deadline I think that's very productive if we could set up a meeting and and address these things at the I mean I want to stress if it's possible for us to maybe rearrange the agenda items so that we can address these things at the top of the meeting all together I mean I think I feel like there's some urgency um yeah and I I have to leave at 815 right now okay I was gonna I was just gonna say that um I think it's late and I think that we worked really well when we had that very focused meeting to do our report and so if we sort of take that same approach for next week and have a focused meeting I Dr. Shabazz I appreciate what you offered there I think that's really an important way to think about this I also want to say that I would like to think about our ask with respect to ARPA in the sort of with a lens of abundance I think that there is a lot of money that's available right now and I think that the community safety needs should be met and that that pressure should be there for the town council I think that the reparation needs should be met and that we should be putting that pressure on the town council um there is just a ton of money coming through so we definitely I think want to claim or try to at least claim some of that money Jennifer um so if I remember correctly Irv Rhodes put in a motion for money to be donated to the youth program that was like the second piece of ARPA update if you recall I don't know if you want to move towards that so that we can move forward I believe it was in the packet correct or was it not you know it was it was yeah yeah I just I wonder if we should give in the time just sort of pause on this and then next I think that we're I am at least I'll speak for myself getting very tired and having a more difficult time processing so if we could sort of pause if everyone's in agreement with that and process this a bit and then come back next week and have a discussion that is totally centered on the financial strategy for November 15th is anyone in disagreement about that okay Dr. Jemison or you have a counselor brewer has her hand great go ahead Alyssa I thank you thank you so much I just wanted to double check I know that you posted a meeting for Monday for ahra just you know to make sure that everybody's really comfortable with the fact that a quorum of ahra will be at the town council potentially even though you won't actually plan to like make ahra decisions at that Monday meeting but it's always good to have a belt and suspenders approach when it comes to meeting posting so thank you but my question was I believe that we you had indicated before that November 18th was your next meeting November 11th is Veterans Day and although theoretically with zoom theoretically that could happen it is still a town employee holiday the buildings are not open it's not a day that you should be having a meeting that's why I'm assuming you're not we no we had already made that decision at our at our meeting this week yeah so we have a different meeting next week we were gonna skip actually we were gonna skip a week and meet again on the 18th because we have the Monday night meeting but now what we're saying is with the 15th coming up we need to find a different day next week to meet thank you I was just getting confused thinking that you were adding in the 11th thank you so much yeah I think maybe we talked about this when we worked on the report when you weren't there the last time yeah that's all thank you I gotta so can we choose a day to meet yeah absolutely I got a bounce do it I mean one option would be that we could actually continue meeting on Monday after the presentation if we are in fact we can't do that we have to be concerned with you doing that is that the meeting is posted already that's not an agenda item and we could revise it but it's a separate zoom link that needs to be attached to that so that people would have to know that they're leaving from one meeting zoom meeting to another zoom meeting so it would be simpler my guess would be Tuesday or Wednesday was another common date because somebody couldn't meet on Tuesday so I'm you know I'm just that's my thought process on it I don't know if Alyssa has a different thought process on it Paula is school committee so she's usually she's not able to come on Tuesdays and so that leaves Wednesday or Friday so which I know Fridays are not popular everybody's like oh no so yeah so I mean I can do Wednesday but I just everybody else can't right and we're just stuck Wednesday okay Wednesday my daughter's birthday so I would prefer not to do Wednesday if possible we do have some plans and I would like to be in in this discussion um Jennifer but school committee meets every other Tuesday is it that is it this Tuesday that they meet check check and Yvonne if you just like have dates that you want to spit out either either one of those days Tuesday or Wednesday of next week works for me okay um Friday will not work because I'll be out of town okay thank you I'm theoretically like off on Friday so I could always open up your meeting and then you guys would sail on your own no but either Tuesday or Wednesday I'm free Monday as well so I'm looking forward to the conversation actually so I mean I can I can check to see if we can revise it and add another zoom link that is separate so that we can meet on Monday um but yeah I mean this was a long meeting and then we would have gone to another long meeting and then we'd have to meet after that meeting I don't think we're gonna have the bandwidth I think it's Tuesday or Wednesday honestly no honestly just you know we're we're human beings we're human beings you know Alyssa you hold on you're you can you are unmuted Alyssa um Tuesday is definitely a regional school committee meeting Wednesday unless the calendar changed since I last sent it to you Wednesday is I believe you indicated but also I think the chamber awards dinner so yeah it's getting really tough on you guys isn't it the other thing that you could consider doing is since it doesn't sound like there are any good options here is you could say Monday night as part of your report hey we wanted to get you something for the 15th but like that's just not going to be feasible given the holiday schedule so how can we do that how will you town council assure us that when we meet the next time on the 18th that you will take this into account before you make your recommendations to the town manager right because those as as are being we'll be working on those in November and December so you know if you kind of put you you're already got the report right and you're already talking about it there but if you put your stake in the ground that night Monday night in another way and say we're going to be coming up with something very specific but we won't have it ready for you on the 15th just because meeting schedules but we will plan to work on it on the 18th and get it to you as soon as possible after that that's another possibility to not try and shove another meeting in when you feel like not many of you can necessarily be there but I just ask if November them where was there a problem Dr. Shabazz could you say that one more time you broke up sorry Tuesday November 9th 6 p.m 6 15 p.m region that was regional school committee which Hala is is a member of so I heard so that's one but was there any other because I don't know if we have if we should disqualify a time because of one one conflict and I could also try to compromise with my doctor and do like an earlier dinner and maybe meet at around seven on Wednesday which I know is a little later than what we would normally meet if we don't want to it's hard without Hala and Alexis here so perhaps we want to send an email to them tonight which I'd be happy to do and get their feedback and then just Dr. Jemison and I will pick either Tuesday or Wednesday does that work for folks yeah Jen the only thing I have to say is if you were picking Tuesday anytime before 4 30 I need to be able to post the meeting before that time so if I'm assuming that we're aiming for the evening but if for whatever reason it worked out that you guys could meet at 2 p.m then I would need to be able to post that meeting before 2 p.m tomorrow okay okay thank you and I haven't heard anybody say that that a daytime meeting is desired I think that most people are pretty busy during the day but that that's a good good to know the schedule point that I recall is that Alexis especially with all the duty she has at Amherst media at this point the parameter was after six so um but I didn't but I think she can do it if it's after six okay so we'll all send an email out or I'll I'll try to get in touch with both Alexis and Hala and then Dr. Jemison and I will send everybody an email Jen first and let her know when we'll be meeting and so everyone here in this group is available either Tuesday or Wednesday night is that true okay okay yes Jennifer I think that's on the agenda is this discussion of ARPA funds and cannabis funds or I'll call it funding streams so that I'm not letting leaving anything out one item funding strategy a single yes right absolutely I'm sorry I got to bounce you all good yeah bye councilor what was that is asking councilor Brewer has her hand up so I'm sure you were joking but a couple of specifics like the lines from your current agenda in terms of ARPA and cannabis would be really important to put there in terms of specificity of topics but I appreciate that Jen's keeping you confined to just funding not adding on 50 other things that night make sense no other updates or presentations yeah okay thank you so then my only other thing that I'm just going to put in people's heads now and maybe they can bring that for Monday's meeting because we have the standard item upcoming agenda items is that with me not being here Thursday and oh it doesn't matter because we meet on Thursdays now not Wednesdays okay so we do have one other item on this agenda which is just a mass cultural council grant update it's a two-second update I applied so that application went in I'm going to actually follow up with them tomorrow just to get a better sense I'm sorry I didn't get a chance to do that before our meeting tonight but to get a better sense I believe that what I could find on the website is that they review the applications in December and then they put their awards out in December as well so keep you posted on that Dr. Jemison do you see any anything else that I missed did we miss anything here I know that there are a number of items submitted for the website that we had been thinking we would do an ascent process for and I imagine people might want to have those go out as soon as possible so if that's quick and we'd be willing to do that then perhaps we need to do that yeah so Jennifer do you have like some way that they all of the items that you that have been sent to you for the website are listed they're in your packet oh they're in the tell her I'm starting to feel some kind of way about people in their packets man am I doing this for like what's going on there's a reason I did review the packet I just don't remember seeing it I sent it to you too early right like the two days was too early so thank you Dr. Jemison so I appreciate that of course yeah so these four YouTube links they were produced by the reparations Amherst and then there were also reparations for Amherst research reports and educational symposiums several media links and then like there's yet another one yep a few more media links here hopefully not going too fast and that might be yeah I think that was it so it's a lot of it's a lot of existing information I you know I don't think those are these are surprises or anything that was you know just created like last week or something like that and they you know came from I believe Dr. Shabazz and Michelle so folks who are definitely authorities on what's been going on here so that's the content that we've been we're being asked to I sent to right and do we still have her because we may have lost a quorum oh you're right I don't he might pop back in I don't know or he might have thought the meeting was over we've lost him and Alyssa Alyssa I think I I know that she had to to leave a little bit early but I do not see her here which means I think we are unable to continue is that right well you just can't make any decisions and I can stop recording all right no decisions but that's public comment period now yeah so we can just move right to the public comment period unless Dr. Shabazz has a BAM update oh gosh okay I gotta call it 28 okay all right well we do still have will in the attendees so I just want to make sure that we do cover additional public comment will you've already heard the disclosure that comes with public comment if you would like to make comment again please raise your hand now and we will open it up for you come on in let's see here you go you can hear me yes okay well I just wanted to thank you all for including me right now you know and really anyone is but it was interesting to sort of get myself up to speed a little bit um and I hope it's all right if I um maybe reach out to you guys by email um I just have some questions about some of this stuff and I really am hoping um to you know I'll be in the area and I really would like to in a thorough way report on this process so I guess this is me it's just sort of introducing that I'll be doing that um and that hopefully um I'll be able to um discuss a lot of this with all of you so thanks in advance and well just so you know you can are all I think the first three or four meetings are on the youtube channel on the reparations web page I saw that yeah thank you yep okay great thank you will thanks um