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HomeMy WebLinkAbout10.20.25 CEC MinutesCITY OF FALCON HEIGHTS Community Engagement Commission City Hall 2077 West Larpenteur Avenue MINUTES October 20, 2025 at 6:30 P.M. A. CALL TO ORDER: 6:34 PM B. ROLL CALL: Julie Ebbesen_X_ Denise King_X_ Sarah Caflisch_X_ Emily Schmall_X_ STAFF PRESENT: Elke Johnson_X_ COUNCIL LIAISON: Melanie Leehy_X_ C. WELCOME • Schmall introduction D. APPROVAL OF AGENDA • Johnson - Suggested change to order of unfinished business • Note that Apartment Outreach on the agenda is supported by Commissioner Recruitment information so the topic will be covering Commissioner Recruitment • Motion – Ebbesen – approved unanimously E. APPROVAL OF MINUTES: • August 18, 2025, Community Engagement Commission Meeting Minutes o Item 1 – c – King mentioned shred event – did not suggest o Item 3 – c – King surprised o Motion for approval with amendments – Ebbesen – approved unanimously F. AGENDA • Unfinished business 1. Human Rights Day with Special Guest Philando’s Pantry a. Philando’s Pantry i. Thomas Barry Director of Philandos’ Pantry and Minneapolis NAACP chapter ii. Larry Smith – iii. Started July 16th this year, have done 4 food drives today, 100 tons of food delivered to date, 1200 families/5000 people, 10 nationalities. Response to USAID funding decrease. Food from Denver to here – they pay. Currently serving Brooklyn Center iv. Goal to make sure people have access to food and decency. 1. Planning to double the amount of food in future due to decrease in SNAP benefits and 2. 28 tons supplied approximately 200 families/900 ppl. 3. King clarifies NAACP funds the truck ($2,600 per trip), Amazon is providing the food due to inventory surplus. 4. Barry – clarifies that the organization has gone to the counties and cities to help fund getting more storage. 5. Leehy clarifies that Philando’s Pantry needs to distribute the food and goods directly to the families 6. 5013© supported under the watch foundation that includes food, counseling and other social services. v. Ask to the CEC – How can we partner. Is there space, is there a way that we mesh the connection between the City of Falcon Heights and Philando in a positive way vi. Leehy – gives background on how she was connected with Philando’s Pantry vii. Caflisch – feedback – Bravo! viii. Johnson – For human rights day we can include Philando’s Pantry in Human Rights Day ix. Leehy – Human Rights Day could be a good networking opportunity for Philando’s Pantry and the other providers we have x. King- educating the public that PP is available supporting people in need as well as share with FH residents ways that they can help xi. Leehy requests a Philando’s Pantry calendar that we can share at the event xii. Tuesday, December 9th will be the day we are holding the Human Rights Day event xiii. Leehy will follow up with Philando’s Pantry to coordinate attendance xiv. PP representatives depart b. Caflisch has contacted Good Acre, U of M Nutritious U food shelf, Falcon Heights Elementary, Keystone. U of M cannot participate c. Leehy mentions Every Meal and how it started. Current founder is ailing, possibly have a dedication to him. King suggests that Every Meal does that in their presentation. d. King – each organization gets a 5-10 minutes to give a background, identify and meet the need and what the ask is form the attendees (volunteer, donate food, donate money, etc.), create context around the discussion. Let’s determine the take aways that the commission wants attendees to understand. i. Leehy adds that the organizations should educate attendees on food insecurity and aspects of nutrition. Possibly some type of display that would show a family and what their meal is. ii. 5 slides 1. Who you are and what you do 2. What is your ask 3. What aspects of food insecurity do you cover? iii. Presenters should send slides in by December 1st. e. Leehy – Falcon Heights UCC also has a food shelf f. King – add Fair for All g. Potential Good Acre, Keystone, Philando’s Pantry, Every Meal, possibly Fair for All h. Details – Tuesday, December 9th 6:00-7:00 at City Hall focusing on food security. Johnson will look into getting saturation mailers for the event i. Leehy will provide hot apple cider j. Johnson will create graphics to share with the community and include a save the date in the fall newsletter and include somewhere on the website. Website will be updated as we have more information to share k. Caflisch can contact the organizations l. King and Schmall will organize proposed agenda and script for the ask m. King suggests Leehy MCs the event n. Leehy will reach out to Thomas Barry and Every Meal o. Leehy would like to have a handout with information about the participating organizations and others to give to the attendees. p. Reach out by 11/3, confirm participation 11/21, Submit Slides 12/1 2. Apartment Outreach a. Use Human Rights Day b. Schmall suggest closing the presentation with a call for commissioners to join c. Johnson has added a deadline to the commissioner applications to (a) drive activity and • New Business 3. Neighborhood Liaisons a. Need to recruit those people who are well connected in the community b. Confusion about sharing of liaison information. City hall can tell residents who their liaison is but the information is not published. c. King – knows that we have a gap between the number of streets and the short number of names on the active liaison list. d. King will check with her neighbors to see if there is a list in her neighborhood, Ebbesen will be added to the list. e. Johnson – her neighborhood has a facebook group that is a central f. Situations where a list is valuable i. Utilities ii. Crime Watch iii. Storms & outages g. Caflisch – have a quick program at other events that recognizes commissioners and/or liaisons to give visibility to liaison and commissioner positions. Raise the profiles of the opportunities. h. Leehy suggests a neighborhood scavenger hunt i. Schmall – likes the idea and agrees that including recognition in the newsletter. Maybe just once a month or so as a recruitment tool. j. Caflisch – recognize at beginning of events – thanks to commissioners and liaisons in helping our city soar. k. Leehy used to host a once a year networking “meeting” l. King – please add to the November agenda – hosting a neighborhood liaison networking meeting in March or April. G. INFORMATION/ANNOUNCEMENT H. ADJOURNMENT: 8:27 PM • King moves to adjourn – approved unanimously Next Regular Meeting is on Monday, November 17 at 6:30 PM