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Home My WebLink About20 O.C. HUMAN REL. 09-15-97NO. 20 9-15-97 DATE: SEPTEMBER 15, 1997 Inter-Com TO' FROM' SUBJECT: HONORABLE MAYOR AND MEMBERS OF CITY COUNCIL WILLIAM A. HUSTON, CITY MANAGER ~ ORANGE COUNTY HUMAN RELATIONS COUNCIL RECOMMENDATION' That the City Council authorize membership in the orange county Human Relations Council (OCHRC) for fiscal year 1997-98. FISCAL IMPACT: The 1997-98 dues are $2,806, the cost of which would be appropriated from the General Fund reserve. DISCUSSION: At the 5/19/97 City Council meeting, Rusty Kennedy, Executive Director of the OCHRC, made a presentation regarding its services. Although it has not been a member in the past, the City has used the services of OCHRC. The Police Department has used OCHRC services, and OCHRC has established a working relationship with the Tustin Unified School District. Staff feels joining OCHRC would be cost beneficial and would be equitable because the City does utilize the services offered by OCHRC. ORANGE COUNTY Human Relations 1300 S. Grand Bldg. B Santa Ana, CA 92705 Phone 714/567-7-~ COMMUNITY PARTNERS Advisory Board Keith S,,vayne. Presidc,t President Case Sa'avne Don Kammerer, Iqce. President Regional Vice-President Bank of America Gill Barnett, President Parking Concepts Inc. Dr. VMan Blevins, Chancellor Rancho Santiago College District Robert Brant, Exec. Vice-President Git5' National Bank JoEtta Brou'n. CFO Glennexre Market Mark fiobrzenski, General Mgr. ITT Hartford Roger Embrey. General Manager The Gas Company Robert Haskell. President Pacific Mutual Foundation Kenneth Inouye, Partner Inouye. Shively & Longtin Frank Jao. President Bridgecreek Development George Kadonada, Chair, CEO Medical Excess Insurance Service Dr. Al Mijares, Superintendent Santa Ana Unified School District Bill O'Connell, Co-Owner Stovall's Best Western Frank Quevedo, ¥ice President Southern California Edison Roni Renfro, President & Chair CalTrust Frank Robitaille, President Armstrong Robitaille Ins. Terry Runnels, District Manager Shell Oil Products Company Msgr. Jaime Soto Diocese of Orange Chris Van Corder, President & CEO Anaheim Memorial Medical Center Bob Wenzei, Attorney Atkinson. Andelson et. al. Dr. Laurel Wilkening, Chancellor University of California. Ir,'ine Andy Youngquist, President Birtcher Construction Services BOARD OF: DIRECTORS Lilia Powell President Becky Esparza Lin Fujitsubo Regina Front Vice-President Kenneth Inouve Susan Reese George Kessinger Secretary Pat Krone Mitchell Pram Frank Marmolejo Treasurer Nora Norman Rusty Kennedy Keith Swayne Exec,firc Director Dora Rodriguez Shana &Fries Bill Wood Paige Erickson Caleb Zia July 29, 1997 Mx. Bill Huston, City Manager City of Tustin 300 Centennial Way Tustin, CA 92780 Dear Mr. Huston: The Orange County Human Relations Council was created in 1991 to enable the expansion of human relations programs through partnerships with corporations, foundations, schools and cities. In October of 1993 the Orange County City Managers' Association developed the idea of a parmership between the cities, county, courts, schools and private sector to maintain this countywide, professional human relations organization. A modest dues system was created, that if supported by most if not all of the cities, would result in one leg of this partnership. Each of the last 3 fiscal years we have built on the number of cities paying dues to the Council so that we received over $66,000 from 22 cities in FY 96-97. We hope to continue to make progress on our goal of having every city in Orange County aboard. Some of the work we have been able to accomplish and build upon due to the contributions of the cities includes: Responding to hate related activity in City of Tusfin through collaborating with law enforcement, supporting hate crime victims, and helping law enforcement manage community relations when a hate crime occurs. This is an e.x~. emely valuable service and is a resource immediately available to you in a crls~s. Training law enforcement officers to work more effectively with diverse ethnic and other groups that live, work or visit City of Tustin. One of our favorite police training programs is the Community Oriented Policing Awards we were pleased to be able to give $7,000 (corporate donations) in awards to model community policing programs this year. We also conducted a training session for your officers on "Hate on the Intemet". Building inter-ethnic relations, violence prevention and conflict resolution programs has been a prime focus this year in over 27 schools as well as city led efforts such as Huntington Beach's NO-2-HATE campaign. We can work directly with your staff and schools in City of Tustin that are . interested in this area. We were pleased to give $5,000 (corgxnate donations) in awards to distinguished inter ethnic relations programs this year. Mr. Bill Huston, City Manager July 29, 1997 PAGE 2 Conducting Living Room Dialogues or Day of Dialogue to build a sense of community in neighborhoods or workplaces where the changing ethnic make-up has caused inter-group tension as we did in the Garden Grove. Mediating and conciliating disputes between landlords and tenants, consumers and merchants, employers and employees or neighbors and neighbors in City of Tustin and other cities has been a top priority this year. We were able to open 2 evening mediation clinics to bring this service closer to the clients this year. Developing cultural competency plans with diverse city task forces to identify strategic steps to enable cities to deal with fast changing demographics as we did with La Palma's 2020 project. Our public tranquillity supported by an effective human relations infrastructure is a valuable and perhaps pivotal resource. It can make the difference between a community divided against itself in self destructive rage or one made strong by its diversity. Your modest dues help insure the latter. The funding formula remains $1500 base + $.02 per capita with a maximum cap of $5000. The 1997-98 dues for City of Tustin are $2,806. Some cities have used CDBG Grant funds; Proposition 172 funds; General funds for Contract Services; Redevelopment Set Aside moneys; or Narcotic Asset Forfeiture Funds. Thank you for your continuing support which was matched 9 times over by funds from the Businesses, Foundations, County, Courts, Corporations, Individuals and Fees. ¢ Rusty Kennedy, Executive Director Orange County Human Relations Council PS I would be happy to meet with you or your representative to discuss our services as well as new ideas you may have for collaboration.