SPIRIT Council Data Sub-committee Minutes

Meeting date: 
Monday, November 22, 2021

SIMSBURY SPIRIT COUNCIL
DATA SUB-COMMITTEE
Minutes

November 22, 2021, 6-8 pm
via Zoom & Facebook Live Feed

ROLL CALL & CALL TO ORDER

Participants were Rebekah Hatch, Rick Brush, Mary Margaret Girgenti, Chris Kelly. Mary Margaret Girgenti was present until 7:00, at which point the sub-committee no longer had a quorum.

The meeting was called to order at 6:02 pm.

PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE

The group completed the Pledge of Allegiance.

PUBLIC AUDIENCE/PUBLIC COMMENTS

There was no public audience or comments

NEW BUSINESS

  1. Guests DataHaven and Health Equity Solutions - Karen Siegel, Victoria Tran
  • Victoria Tran led the discussion on suggestions they have for data collection and analysis.
    • Received the document from Rebekah and Rick and reviewed it
    • Has some recommendations and next steps
    • Organized their thoughts the same way the document was presented to them
    • Can write up a more formal report if necessary
    • Simsbury Overall – Attitudes
      • Look back at the DataHaven equity report that was done for Simsbury. Mark had presented some results at the last meeting.
      • Race, ethnicity, demographics of leaders, elected leaders, staff, and compare to demographics of town
      • SeptemberFeast Survey – revamp of survey that would collect demographic data (race, ethnicity).Anonymous.Make it an online survey. Or over the phone.Should be administered by partners in town vs town leadership (Churches, Food Pantry, etc.)Look to administer every 3 – 5 years.Could also do some focus groups with this.
      • The town’s “equity policy audit” could also be looked at.Change Lab Solutions has a municipality tool kit that can help with this process. https://www.changelabsolutions.org/
      • Reach out to business owners already in Simsbury and discuss why are you in Simsbury? What is attractive.Do some surveys of business owners from other towns.
    • Criminal Justice
      • Identify a partner who can work with the Police Department to identify and evaluate the data that is available.Also identify areas of change.
      • Partner with Police Department or Criminal Justice reform organization who can help do an “equity audit” geared towards Police Department.
      • State produces a report on traffic study disparities.Ct Racial Profiling Prohibition Project. https://www.ctrp3.org/
      • Critical Race Theory – Engage with the School Board or parent groups to address any issues of understanding in relation to CRT.
      • Conduct Implicit Bias training for school staff
      • Engage with B.O.E. for a curriculum audit
      • How social and emotional learning and anti-racism can be integrated into curriculum if not currently occurring.
      • Engage School Board on Health Care screenings in conjunction with FVHD.
      • Conduct a survey of students on belonging, school inclusivity, quality of counseling, etc.Health Equity Solutions would have some sample surveys.
      • Gifted Student track program – who is being chosen and why?Anyone being left behind.
      •  
    • Food Insecurity
      • Audits on water and air quality for various areas of town
      • Partner for an audit on what areas may have lead abatement needs
      • Evaluate access to childcare
      • Mental and Emotional Health?Advocacy with the School Board and school system is a good place to start as the school has resources and data.
      • Survey on housing availability?This could be integrated into the general survey on inclusiveness. Reach out to nonresidents and do focus groups on why people selected the towns that they did.
      • Partner with Real Estate agents to identify what the perception of the town is from people who maybe choose other communities.

https://www.changelabsolutions.org/good-governance - Another website

The group discussed the scope of the project and how to identify and address issues in a way that can be meaningful.  A few things:

  • May want to focus on some priority areas
  • Look at the category of what is data that is available and pull that together as it will cover a lot of the bullets.
  • Next step – they write it up
  1. Task Force and Other Subcommittee Updates
    • Housing is looking to make some decisions in the first week of December
    • Assessing pre and post grant perceptions – looking for support form Data Subcommittee on this.
    • Also are looking for support from Data Subcommittee to help conduct stakeholder focus groups.
    • Funding if approved would be in January.
  2. LetsTalk Download
    • December 2nd is next one
  3. Approval of October Minutes
    • No approval of minutes due to a lack of quorum.

OLD BUSINESS

          1. 2022 Committee Roster

       a.  The group discussed the leadership structure and membership for 2022 

NEXT MEETING: Monday, December 27, 2021 @ 6:00pm

                           Location: TBD

ADJOURNMENT:  The meeting ended at 7:25

The meeting adjourned at 7:28 pm.