Lawrence Alliance Minutes

June 22, 2005
Submitted by Deb Taylor, Chair

Members Present:

Barbara Bonnekessen, Tiffany Hessler-Droge, Sara Taliaferro, Ed Brunt, Bruce Ney, Hilda Enoch, Anne Burgess, Sarah Terwelp, Deb Taylor

Members Absent:

Ralph Reed, Peter Luckey

Staff Present:

Debbie Van Saun

Introductions

Deb Taylor began the meeting at 7:40 pm in the Gallery Room of the Lawrence Public Library. Old and new members introduced themselves and shared why they wanted to be a part of the Alliance. New members are: Sara Taliaferro, Ed Brunt, Bruce Ney, Hilda Enoch, Sarah Terwelp, and Anne Burgess (new member Peter Luckey was not present).

Meeting

Deb Taylor welcomed Board members and gave a brief history of the Alliance over the past three years. The Board has been largely inactive over the Executive Director, Jason Smartt, moved out of town. The Board’s attempt to find an Executive Director did not produce promising results. The Alliance did not reapply for funding and has spent very little money in the last three years. Debbie Van Saun reported that the Alliance will not be able to apply for 2006 funding. Deb mentioned that she asked most of the new members to be on the Board after having spent several months looking for the best type of people to represent the diverse needs in Lawrence.

Barbara Bonnekessen summarized her involvement with the Alliance during its early years, describing how more Lawrence groups initially worked with the Alliance. Whereas the Alliance initially involved lots of people, eventually it was made up of group leaders only. The Alliance has gone from active to inactive throughout the years. Barbara also described the panel discussions that the Alliance led. The panels focused on various diversity topics and were held throughout various parts of town. Some were better attended than others.

Members discussed ways to become better watchdogs for the community in order to identify potential areas where a group or person might face discrimination, and to rate diversity in Lawrence as a whole. In order to get a better idea of how well the community feels Lawrence is doing with respect to diversity, members decided to hold panel discussions in different Lawrence neighborhoods. In this way, the Alliance can:

• Find out how residents feel Lawrence is doing with respect to being (or trying to be) a non-discriminating community.
• Provide a “listening ear” to our community as we strive to develop a more proactive posture as a group.
• Discuss our findings as a group and take action accordingly.
• Meet and develop liaisons/coalitions with a cross-section of people who represent a variety of concerns and needs in Lawrence.
  

In preparation for the first panel discussion, the group decided to do the following:

• Talk to various community members and leaders who represent visible concerns in Lawrence.
• Get an idea of their needs and what they would like to see accomplished.
• Get an idea of who they feel would be good candidates to sit on our panel or who they would like to see sit on our panel.
• Seek out possible places to hold our panel discussions.
• Think of Outreach Zones where we can post our upcoming neighborhood panel discussions.
• Think about when to have our first panel meeting.
• Think of a name for these panel discussions.
  

Deb discussed the Alliance Web site (www.lawrencealliance.org) and asked members to note any changes and additions they feel should be made.

 The meeting ended at 9:00 pm