001[Music] everybody's family so we're going to go and get started because we're bringing a couple minutes late already I want to start with a couple of announcements if you need translation we have a translator here Oh back here so we want you to sit near by him so he can effectively translate if you need translation next thing is our facilitator who is with us and all introduced or will introduce later would love it if some of you moved closer so nobody's coming after you and drag you up closer but it will work better later in the evening if you're a little bit closer in able to participate in some group conversations also one of them for everybody who's not been here those that there are restaurants outside the door to the right so that is
002our housekeeping step so at this point time I want to welcome you all to our regular fall town hall meeting this time Brock you drugged me with the super fall school district and welcome our City Council who are here in the audience at school board members who later on stage for the last part of our event I'm Kyle Palmer mayor of Silverton and I'm really happy to see this turnout tonight so thanks again for coming before I say more about it directly to the URL address on the screen most of you I hope that one piece of paper handed to you about the meeting pulse program that we're using tonight there's no app download just go to the address on the end that reading phone and get started it's really easy and it's a great
003way to provide and follow feedback throughout the evening and up till later tonight at some point it's also anonymous so no worries about anybody calling in tomorrow harass me about whatever you said or didn't say for those of you without an in that device you can also provide feedback in writing before leaving tonight if you're here tonight though you've probably been following this community discussion that began in late September with a small group exercise planned jointly by the city and the silver close library month was said to hurt that evening much has been written in red cents on social media in short our community has been very responsive to the reality that we're not doing everything we can to provide equity and inclusion to everybody who lives here one priority that I think we shared
004is to find ways that we can do so how can we be the ally that's needed how can we recognize our own inadvertent insensitivities and how can we regain the trust of those who have been targeted in our community I am a lifetime resident of this community and what I've always told you that the members of all members of the deserve equal treatment I also want Leslie turn my life assuming that everybody here in this place we live at least receipt that equal treatment it making such an assumption I've been part of a problem I'm here tonight that fully so we're ten is a wonderful amazing place overflow that those who live in service to others but we're not it's we're not alone in being better served by a population at charrisse's of similarities and
005tenement minimizes our different systems doesn't matter how old you are how young you are what color you are what gender you are whether you're the best physical shape of your life or whether you are all struggling to find ways to live around physical challenges you all belong here and you'll all bring something special to separate them for some of us this conversation started because we learned that there are those here and in our community who don't share those thoughts about equity and inclusion some of those lessons were charting and hard to hear about our community I know they were for me I've spent a lot of time since that night thinking about what I can do what we can do what you can do it's a tough question because we don't have the power to
006legislate Bach or most speech or very many actions we do however have the power to create encourage dialogue and that's why we're here tonight to shine a light where if some might have per week and to expand the conversation to the level where it becomes uncomfortable to live here and practice anything less than Eason si - every neighbor I encourage you all to listen tonight to speak if you wish and to think about how we can contribute to making this a welcoming place for all not long after the library has contacted by our interim superintendent Paul Peterson he's provided his partnership as we move forward and it's my pleasure to have him joining us tonight and I know speak I speak for the City Council and I say it's our pleasure to have the school
007board here as well please welcome Paul Peterson person comments as well it's good evening about the new revenue behind pollinators something in terms of percentage of this year and just don't wanna be tapped on the board of directors welcome to Silverton high school and thanks for covered to back to share with us your thoughts we have something really happening that's exciting in Oregon Student Success act this is sort of a once in a generation opportunity to look at education and the funding and do things differently so tonight miracle percent is about is dialogue and listening and I want you to know that this is really important to the school district it's really important to the school board members who are all here and it's important to us because hearing these voices helps inform how we're
008going to spend as a new revenue that's coming into the schools that has intended to make a difference in the lives of kids so just I just want you to know how much we appreciate hearing your voices and I am but that I'm going to turn it over Christy okay here we go thank you hi there my name is Kristy Davis I went here in Silverton and I had the great privilege of serving as the director for the Silver Falls Library District tonight I had the honor of introducing to a wider audience of our community to South hata choose Foust Oregon humanities program can we get along was co-hosted by the library in the city of Silverton on August 20 this year a lot of the big and good and sometimes surprised these things happen
009that night at the library and I believe that they will continue here tonight as we work towards common good together we see what we can learn the rewards of listening neatly while we are on our own journey towards a community where we all feel safe being heard and connected to sow six periods and facilitating these types of conversations as a gift of skills honed over many years of collaborative work to sow is a performing artist community organizer and global citizen artist through her performance work she continues to sharing the japanese-american story with communities from kurushima Japan to Cuba and New Mexico to Ontario Oregon her Koryo poems inspired talks created exchanges and non-traditional approaches leave together community connection with energy and wisdom she teaches us that through art and freedom of expression we can celebrate
010what it means to be human her talents are shared as an Oregon humanities conversation leader and Vanport Vanport mosaics stories and movement artist and facilitator Chi sau developed gam bata an American legacy stories of japanese-american dispossession and resilience in Portland Oregon and she is a guest artist at the dance exchange in Takoma Park Maryland Josiah is on the board of directors for the Oregon UK endowment American music program reward of the physicians for Social Responsibility she is a founding member of Portland taiko and theatre diaspora and has inspired countless students to pursue the art of dance what she says about the program stories and movement can set an inspirational tone for us this evening woven through our gatherings are expressive techniques that allow us to reflect and to inspire us to see ourselves in others
011ladies and gentlemen will you give a warm welcome to thank you so much for seat thank you everybody for being here tonight this is going to be a little bit different because it's not the normal setup a normal setup of the conversations that we have I don't feel as comfortable being up here talking to you down there as if we were all together talking but I appreciate the fact that we have this opportunity together and that the mayor and the superintendent the library have asked us together again in a commitment to a process that is ongoing facilitating and here's the thing about silica I've been in smaller cities and larger cities but what's really interesting is when I'm in smaller cities everyone that can affect an institutional change is sitting at the same table and
012a lot of times in bigger cities it takes five or six meetings to everybody at the table and I think that it could be sillerton that is 17 examples in the world and how we are in how we are to experience each other and so I'm very honored and so I just want to say that in conversations that I believe the use of space and how the room is set up is really important to how we engage each other and so we're going to try to use an example of the process that we use without having it set up in a way that's one and that is a lot of times when we first interact we do that non-verbally so what I would like everybody to do around non-verbally breathe other people or in this
013room tonight non-religious with no words also what to think the translators but we know what language to create separation be able to share our abilities so a little bit of what we're going to do now is bring some people that you may know that you have had some exchange with on a daily basis or a walkathon to model review have this conversations like up definitely in a smaller room definitely not on the stage and to have the ability to move around to connect you have to listen that was you know okay so I wanted to start out with a few things so I'm going to bring you guys up in just a second and but but I have the first slide of some shared values that it was to start out with understanding so our
014work is for a common good in other words we all by doing this for we have nothing to lose there's nothing that is going to be taken away from us but we have everything to gain and I can't emphasize it enough the richer we are ignorant or diversity I the more we understand each other to keep our relationships the more we all have to gain and relationships are and in today's world I feel like they don't have enough of that happening we're separated by a lot of things by our time commitments life even social media where we think we're connecting it's different when you're looking a person in the face and in their eyes and spending and so I'd like to introduce this group tonight to come on and join me if you will they
015are also met before this is a little bit so this original actually maybe we could just [Music] well we're not in a circle what we were in a circle and nobody's working at it yeah so I'm hoping that everybody can hear everyone oh there's my expenditure okay so what I would like to do is just ask them to introduce yourself and let us know where you're born wait for you sir I think Paul Peterson I was born in Port Angeles Washington I'm at least a gallon and I was born in Richland Washington my cashman born in Palo Alto California Sarah y40 Orange California [Music] Hillary Dumitrescu born in Taipei Taiwan Paul Scoville born in in California L mean we are suddenly norm and Oregon City and brought home to Silverton who was born in Silverton
016I was brought home from hospital okay how many of you were born how many the Lewis or developer who is born in watch how about west of Mississippi how about East I'm if you aren't sure they told you what story in this it's always interesting oh where do you think I was born wife she was so I was born in Des Moines Iowa I was born in the Midwest and that was actually as a result yeah come on up here's a chair wait and so we just and said her name and where we're born around agnostic I was born in Trinidad or the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago we're set miles off the northwest coast of Venezuela a few miles actually I did not ask that who was born so just a little bit about
017my story why this bass was born in Des Moines Iowa is that my parents were hearts rating drink or two in Parker Arizona and my mother was a nurse and found a job in Des Moines Iowa we had to it's a longer story than that but he had better job so I'd like to ask you if you're listening to these questions because you're going to have a chance to share with each other to some of its information I'd like to know how long you lived in Silverton and what you really enjoy I first came here following my sister and Silverton reminded me of the town library the in summer we all see this coming from that we have the Morris wet under company and it was just this gaggle of kids and they having a
018good time everybody's about just about 12 I remember that's how we were we were cattle kids broken just in everybody's yard and that everybody's treated everybody wants and it was like it's time to go home now but you know whatever will be would together and that reminder that's what I'm great thank you I've been in Silverton my entire life what I love most about Fullerton is the connections we moved here from on still when I was 12 and I love the fact that I can go to John's he knows exactly how I cut my hair without having a second or you can go somewhere and someone knows what kind of coffee or what food you like and you don't have to say anything except good morning good afternoon I really like that category I have
019lived here for five years and my husband and I run our business from our home so we could live pretty much anywhere and we decided to start looking for the perfect place and we ended up in Silverton on a first Friday and it was one of those First Fridays in like February or March where it was actually warm enough that people were like wearing shorts and like February there and like Rhonda any kids were just out running around town and going in and out of stores and and I just thought oh my gosh this is this is what I went for my my beats and they've had it I feel like everybody knows my kids they've always got eyes on them and and we still welcome wherever we go and hope to silverton about seven
020years ago with my family after wanting to live in this community since I was a teenager I was drawn to Silverton because it's beautiful and it's connected in the sense of place and rootedness in this community it's so powerful and unlike anything I've experienced in this country because people are going to each other to each other and take the time to know each other and that's just something special that you don't find in our society very much in my question I came here when there was 66 and 64 gonna live in here two years but we came here because I did a lot of weddings down in this area I was in Portland and this is where we felt peace not just a farmland rug but when we came here it just felt that when
021you walk into a building really sweet mojo let's have the city we came down here and that afternoon we bought a house they weren't planning to live that we just came here to rest but for us it's in just this little time our house always has people in it dropping things off almost every day groups large groups and small groups I can honestly say that I have never seen a community that from top to bottom work so hard to help each other if you said you needed something in this talent somewhere else you're going to be crushed with what you need and I just love that I would have given as well so I over to the 35 years I was adopted at 285 by a lovely couples that lived at Harrods Overton and and
022moved out to summer City when the rest of their family lived in Washington because they worked so hard to you so much and like so many other kids bagged up here and early went to high school here I left for a while I lived in Europe for a while fun way like a military base way but lived in California and went up the middle of the desert and when I had they had the opportunity to get back I did so it soon as it possibly could and you know I actually grew up in the boonies that really push our meridian and my mentoring and I I didn't actually have the same kind of connection is growing up as I do now and I knew the kids in high school and I took gymnastics where you
023go break it and did all that other stuff that a lot of other people or tenor familiar with but we live out in the country and I couldn't just walk to somebody's house and play with them so that was something I missed out when I was younger but when I came back to Silverton it's all of what these people have said the connection the community knowing that if my kid walks down the street I can go give Heather a call went shopping it's like they're totally not smoke free over there and any day we need to do that and in there you can attest to that that we can all do that and it wasn't until though until I got old Erik and I got to see what the adults were doing and so that
024really made this baby for me work brought me to Silverton I've been here for about fourteen weeks and that's really only during the week because trailer at the Silver Spur during the weekend that I go home my house is like a maze and scampers but I have to say that I have just so much gratitude we have amazing young people in our schools and if I had about 20 minutes and I would go into his field I like to give kids these days because they truly are amazing people we were we were that age so I'm fully grounded for our kids we have incredibly talented compassionate dedicated teachers all throughout our district we've got exceptionally skilled and hardworking administrators there our district got a dedicated school board and because I just have to say that
025I'm really grateful about souls right now because we have legislation that our state passed where equity is at the center of that legislation and now I find that soul in a community where there is courageous City legal ready to help flee not only their our school community large our broader community it's a very very important work gratitude I would like all of you now to look around the room and you may be by people that here that you know well and this is this is why we're down but you can move around in the room for a moment and I just want to say this discussion that we're having this exchange it's going to go until maybe that eight eight ten in total and then then it will go right into your regular alcohol meeting
026explain I just want to emphasize that again so what you just heard these citizens of your city do they introduce themselves except for I'm sorry okay we miss witness so we'll model this okay so your name you're gonna say it everybody absolutely perfect and where you were born I like being inclusive great okay so now you all are going to get about okay seven minutes all right to get with someone to talk to them about who you are how long you fit in there and what you love about something okay so I'm going to turn my back to there's something really magical and wonderful about gathering this or both all of our indigenous cultures you know that have done that have thought of that come together in that way in the power and so they
027don't need to be rude back to you but it's going to facilitate their ability to exchange with each other in in a circle and now what I've asked them to consider it is oh and can I have the next the next slide so I said this earlier but I want to emphasize this that we're not gonna end tonight with Oh concepts yes we've got that all figured out or we're investing in this project in this process and we know what to do this this is a process thank you very much this is a process of getting to know each other and so we're investing in that process everybody that's in this room and the people that you go home to talk to the people in your family that you share this with this we're all
028engaged in the process and so we do change to the next like okay so there's three things that I consider agreements and those are that going to really try hard to listen without judgment because usually when some of these talking we're going to learn you know how we're thinking about it what we want to say and how they respond after that person finishes talking we don't need to do that because we're just willing to listen and try our best to listen without judgment and always speak from my personal truth this is what I understood from my experience or mind it it helps in the conversation all truth but someone can disagree with you and or have a different reality and that's okay they can have their reality and their truth and you can have your
029reality and the tooth can exist together it's not a race to womenís right and who's wrong it's not an either for if it's not even if it just is that I want to introduce that idea that two realities can exist quite the same time and so my asked our circles to talk about cultural how did you exchange with other cultures when you were growing up and where you're going up and fight other cultures I want to clarify that to mean people who are not like you or that you're considered not liked by other cultures I don't mean foreign from another place they're just different okay so you might ask this group to start okay so there don't worry about is this with hot that this might come on that's green we're having a mic issue
030down here well actually see where are you okay so in the booth we have no mics down here okay so what do you think about it considered others because you aware most families were mixed and we basically separated everything so everybody celebrating so but people like everyone participates in a different question breath because we were brought up cheese jumping if I went to a home where people beat on the batteries with their fingers [Music] so these smaller circles in the work sometimes I and having a conversation I'm going to ask you to try to pick them and really kind of short so that we would get to the next round so that was fantastic so let's just stick with this circle so so you're you guys are actually talking to each other yeah okay for
031me culturally growing up was I think pretty easy it was hard and a lot of other aspects that culturally I felt anger Catholic so we'd go to church and we'd hang out we'd be there early to set up and then afterwards we would sit and eat lunch me and everything that their family and other friends and that's a kind of a movie about like the town news or what was who's yet I was coming out so that was kind of where I connected with my Hispanic culture other than that at school where this I guess I guess and they collect code-switching but it's almost like you go to school and not a lot of teachers spoke Spanish so the business to everybody it's kind of frowned upon to speak Spanish so we I spoke English
032and I dropped my accent very young and so I my whole house had a household had an accent very thick accent we shouldn't be very she's really awesome but so so culturally it was kind of this whole you know when you're at home with your everything you are or in public places like my experience growing up was around other people that look like me biggest cultural differences were who was there for and who wasn't we were deported and a lot of siblings but my mom one day said to me I don't know why but I think you're going to have a colorful family and I took that at a young age and then sought out diversity I'm looking for it I tried to be friends with anybody who didn't look like me at school and
033I went to high school at 19 so there wasn't a lot and when they get home they only stay a few months I understand Nanoha so it but I was gunning for somebody either up together to eat kids so that was my first culture and we were military barracks so we had the attitude of sort of like if you're a human being and you're next to be your friend because I can't be picky because we might move next month you know and I grew up in a military town with a lot of kids that were like that too so I feel really gifted to have grown up I like someone said just like yeah cool what's your story like I just I approached most people with just an innate curiosity and I kind of figure
034they're gonna be good get it once I get to know them and I have never been wrong now you're back over there okay switching taki mode so I said before I was adopted at five and for me when you don't state your original family there's a kind of overwhelming sense of not feeling like you belong and I my sister network dogs together so we were really looking at importunate and that but we were both very artistic and very emotional and very very talkative and my parents not my dad's a computer programmer and my mom a very sweet woman that thinks her like a PI I see does he have any idea what to do with us yeah my genetic background is part Native American in the kind of stubborn areas of like where Texas is
035now and Irish again doctor but so and when I was younger actually my skin was darker probably because I actually stayed outside more you know turning white and inside here but and so I do remember the really young age kind of being singled out in my I was a very small school yeah I wasn't that dark but I had dark hair and I get a little bit darker and everything but I've never sent decline you know when I was younger a man like that and but as I got older and got paler what I did what kind of stuck out for me wasn't necessarily where people were skinny telling it was like there was all these kids the mystic tended to group together anything we had completed our childhood that kind of made us a
036little different or maybe I had a friend that had Tourette's and just he was the nicest kid that just tended to turn people off or there was just a big group of us like that where we kind of all banded together in our different nests and so I think that's just kind of the mode that I operated out of away as well we're all good this way everyone's welcome so I think that shaped a lot of how I approach people now right where they're coming from or where they're going necessarily but I do know it feels like to not fit in and so I just try my hardest not to make sure I do that to anyone else somebody experienced very okay West Washington my cultural experience was definitely a community that looked like me
037but there was a reservation adjacent to our community and so Wow we had friends who lived on the resident reservation at where our friends at school there was and we separate this there I never remember not understanding why I didn't go to their houses for school for fun Palo Alto across the street from Stanford University was totally white a lot of nice houses I didn't know how poor we were how much violence is in my house until a little later and all the kids about lipids look like me and I thought they were all living in houses like that outside living it wasn't until I got into junior high and high school that I started to meet people who were really different than me somehow my violent house were I couldn't wait to get out
038of it helped me to go out into the world where there were so many other people and I have no idea why I felt comfortable doing that because some of the words that I associated with different kinds of people I can still hear and but they're never something that I go to instead I kind of search out something different I'm not sure why though so my cultural training was incorrect well my nitrous is incorrect as yours good if you get my time together if you get my dress back together you put them all up honest teaching practice in fact your father when you were 12 them of great-grandfather was Croatian twisted magnet story behind that one but me but try that is multicultural we will must touch you know I remember waking up one morning
039and standing out on the bathroom and the neighbor next door is blasting Maria leave on the other side the other see India neighbors would get together they would claim lack of machine she's a classical Indian and Indian singer and it's like okay we can listen from from the cotton to China and it was all right here in this little place I did I didn't know that that people would know this wasn't it maybe I was watching it back back that I meet people and I see a page and it's a piece of human being and I expect to find that human I guess culturally I identify probably most with poverty and dysfunction I grew up in a pharaoh in orange groves and the sagebrush of san diego county borough san diego county surrounded by immigrants
040from Mexico American and Native American reservation and a lot of wealthy white people horses and I was a poor kid and I grew up in a household with violence and felt sort of untethered to any place as my family had to move and relocate in response to family violence and poverty and I think my sense of identity was with people who struggle I suppose and people who don't feel belonging and feel a sense of fitting in I grew up in heavily religious communities as well or time to find a fit bit fare very well and I think I always had that sense vigilance about the set the feeling of belonging that the people around me have the feeling of safety that the people around me have and it's probably hyper vigilance from trauma but that
041was kind of my awareness that where my radar was too great so I would like to ask you now to challenge yourself to maybe get with some different people but you don't know introduce yourself and then have this conversation about how it was to be growing up so go it's great I want to ask you and the audience to reflect on this process and port at the end and we're going to have a little bit more time thank you and summer we're going to have a little bit more time to process together tonight so I may ask if you want to volunteer to share some of your experiences tonight after this next so now we're going to talk about how was it for you growing up and then how is it now for you instill
042rejection what have you observed experience culturally in Silverton so let's let's go back to this group here do you have your mic and I'm going to ask you to keep your individual comments a little bit shorter so that we can have a little bit more time yeah The Bistro animates true this is a tough question for me not because I don't want to get into it but because I don't want to go there that's right my silver ten story is completely different now my son is five he's black he's African it's not African American in fact it's Malawi and I don't really like living in Silverton with him so my culture is different when I grew up the biggest thing that we would get hassled at the grocery store was we were taking too long
043with our food stamps I go to store now and I go to Safeway and I'm buying groceries with my son and I get to hear terms like and stuff like that when I grew up I didn't have to put up with that and so sillerton treats me differently I graduated here went to school here a volunteer firefighter I work at the food bank I serve my community I'm a substitute teacher for a couple of years by choice but no I don't want another story but I'm seeing one way when I by myself and I've seen another way when I'm like myself and that pisses me off sorry well okay I grew up going to a school where only one teacher knew how to save my name and he is actually in the audience today so
044going from kind of like the scene earlier just having that code-switching and really trying to make whoever was around me comfortable too now I'm kind of having more of a backbone and understanding that you know that the United Silverton that means more than just you know Athena the fact that I Joan the fact that I was born here the fact that I don't have an accent kind of gives me kind of a handout so nowadays I tend to stand up a little bit more is louder I don't worry about people's comfort zone so much and so I thinking is that as more of a benefit and now also married to my husband yeah what it's like to be anything other than myself it helped me practice on him though my culture hasn't changed a bit
045because I look like this and that is the definition of privilege for me I have changed a lot personally because before I can't pretend I never was wearing I tend to I used to feel uncomfortable that was just how much even if it were everybody looked like me because I am always keeping one I know reason because there are kids in there who look like me too so very nice none of em brain because a quick game time I do it but I have more about step as her sister I say the ladies got affairs I when I first came here I came here with C metropolitan I lived in DC I lived in New York I lived among white fangs I was many I lived in rich and poor the whole the whole gamut
046and felt comfortable anyway and when I came here after after me rose-colored glasses fell off I started becoming weary and started giving up that Trinidadian by where I talk to anybody is why would anybody yeah I started looking at people I remember one time okay missus amenities lover baby this is their place they like living here and they were abused what person was they were showing them at a parade even down here yeah and she was to the point of [Music] you can't judge everyone the see we were Walmart parking lot and there was this tall I mean look like come on come on over why friendship and I pointed on him and I said do you know I said he might eat every black man at this time or or he or the love
047of his life might be a black woman in that breast he didn't like so you know how parents do when they walk in a across the parking lot and they have a childhood then they just put that found the back to catch that that's more and a little boy he had dark skin and that ran here he grabs everybody I refuse to that is why I am willing to be the blackness that you want to talk [Applause] follow on it I grew up in rich area across the street from Stanford we moved to another very rich area I didn't know how poor we were but we did have a lot of violence and all the other kinds of abuse in our house and all the schools who went to the white they were there was
048nothing else it wasn't until later that I got really into why was his 40 years of ministry like working in East Palo Alto East Salinas East when you wonder why is it always East but I realized that it was the richest people and this is my own very type that I grew into with the people that hid their stuff and it wasn't accessible and then going into the families in Salinas if I found that that girl was pretty gentle Emily I could go to their house and they would I know that they do they was a normal house because the minister's coming and they would make tamales but when we sat down to talk everybody was in there nobody had and everybody cried and it was so accessible to me and I did not have
049I had no idea that anybody could live that way and I found that to be more true maybe of poor people than just people of color of people who were in different races right so for me coming to Silverton maybe because people we know or every station in life and I don't feel as much as hiding here except Rhonda with you when you guys said the last time I was ashamed and scared to be and to not be able to see and another what Sears its benefit that's been a weird cultural thing for me starting when we heard no questions about the culture of today and in my work where I spend almost all my waking hours is in multiple communities I here in Silverton and then also in art because the school district covers
050250 square miles multiple world communities as well so I think an interesting aspect in terms of the culture today we're talking now and we're talking about equity and diversity inclusion and then for me not everyone is ready to engage in that conversation and when those of us try to initiate conversations we find that we need help and we go to the people who we don't like like Rodman and and then the towards a question is it fair to keep asking Rhonda to be the spokesperson for black people it's over - it's over and she said yes thank goodness right but not everybody feels that way and so the culture of the moment for me is trying to lead it helped be part of helping lead the work recognizing that I am a white person and
051I need help but how do I do so and encourage other voices in a sensitive way so I think one of the largest things have changed for me is the inclusion of a vocabulary around LGBT you so where we know how many of you remember hearing the alcohol story about Matthew Shepard that was the first time I heard somebody was gay and he somebody got hurt because they were gay just just for the sole reason of being gay and as a mom I ended up that the child that came out and that changed my culture personally because I had to learn what that meant I had to learn that for that I had to learn what it meant the terminologies which changed grow by the day I had to learn what that meant for them
052and I had to learn what it meant for people in the community and what I learned is it's still a conversation we're pretty uncomfortable with there's a lot more kids now that are there acting more openly comfortable around their same-sex relationships but and for reference I started this over to me connection and based off of the fact that I had a child that had come out my first thought as most kids but parents do is protect my kid how do I make sure that my kid did it just tell me I have a target on my back I go outside I'm gonna walk around and he's gonna find me they're going to target me and so I feel that the only thing that you really keep that fear at bay is to be an activist
053it's to go out and to say okay we need to learn about this stuff where you need to you need to talk about this or your kids I don't know if you realize how many of your kids are not sharing with you that they feel like they could be transgender they feel like they are attracted to the same sex they don't really know what they're attracted to but that's not a conversation they feel comfortable having the view and it is only through that work that I really realized that were act and how far we have to go but even last year we had did a a book reading at the library of the first book greater than the first LGBT husband group Somerton probably ever had and I think there were maybe ten of us
054and it was like and every other meeting but one of the gals in the room you know she came up to me afterwards and she's crying she's like I can't believe he did this like we all sat here and we rather read read these books she was eight at the time I wanted to read a book that she got up and read she's the most out kid you will ever meet just like I'm not binary we had a conversation a week ago intro she was a lesbian she's like I love you doctor that's might I know so you mean have like a really positive experience with your kids no matter where they're at and there's a part of me that wants to be like but that's what we're all I think we're all here for
055relief like that we want to try to educate the community because there's somebody we love there's somebody we love that is a different color and we're tired and sick and tired of of denied making that a target for them or because we grew up or and you know what that feels like when you sense it the food-stamp like hit me and the guy I would a single parent for so many years and that shame that comes from that it just all it just hit me like almost I think in most every by the other that are up on this panel appropriate probably say that about their upper be like I just didn't want them to feel that way anymore my God we're not gonna you know whether it change it so I think I'm looking
056for me one of the biggest changes I would say that for me the change was coming to a place where I felt like I had a place and being safe enough and raising children who are safe enough to know they're privileged and to leverage their privilege to advocate for other people and I'm raising these fears courageous children who are provoking faith and I'm really sometimes astonished by what they provoke it's not always pretty and I think when we advocate for people who struggle we see we we step out and take some blows for the community because when we have a kid for people who are poor and homeless and people of color and members of the lgbtq+ community and undocumented immigrants and people who have a past and who are known in our small town
057for their past you step out and you advocate for those people and you see what they what they experience and it's powerful and it's over this conversation tonight because we have leaders who listen not every community has we know sir listen and who are accessible and who helped facilitate that conversation that we mean to have because those people sometimes can't stand in a place of strength because their lives are so hard and their challenges are so hard and then we have brave people who are willing to step up and carry that burden to speak for their community and speak their experience because they have this tremendous capacity and I think it's all of us watched people carry that really big burden of speaking for people who struggle and watch them like aw and astonishment and
058support them and to say like some amazing young people that I got to talk to you earlier tonight to say you have the courage and the capacity to do this heavy work and your communities behind you but we really have to we have to show up I mean [Music] thank you very much [Music] [Applause] so this word intersectionality has been used more and more recently it basically means we can be all that and we need to learn how to find themselves in all the ways that we are not just one way and yet for people of color there is this continued code switching it's another term that you may hear a lie ship the bottom line is we all have emotional legacies we all bring to the table to the discussion we're going in a
059store to our teaching our children our own emotional legacies and the more that we can share those stories I think it's there's a power and story that helps us to be authentic and transparent but also sometimes we can buy out our story too much to the point of not listening to the other stories and so I'm going to go back to its it's a process and it's an ongoing process and I understand that within your city within your leadership organizationally and as you individually meet head-on some of the issues that arise we personally hadn't been heard within your city if you continue to engage you will find the answers and I guess when I'm listening to this wonderful panel I'm also reflecting on the fact that I just had a grandchild Kaleo LaRon is a
060poet I always want to church poets to help us make some sense and while you know generations may not understand that the world was changing what he said is that you know my children are not my children they are of a world that I will never know so we can try to change everything you know what we're we're but some of us aren't going to be here when the changes happen can facilitate that out of the way so I'd like to close out tonight by asking you all to return to your nice little horseshoe shape so anything and I'd like to just ask maybe two people but they have something that they would like to share as an audience member oh we do that maybe posters oh you're going to do that okay so you're
061going to have a way to share out that's not really putting you on the bike but if there's anybody that would like to share something maybe go into the or have some burning question or burning thing that you want to say we want to hear that as we continue on the process of going bowling so I want to sign off my part now and then all of you for coming and let you know that this process will continue on and thank everybody on the stage for their wonderful authentic honest sharing and that's real really rich that is our our goal that we couldn't do that in a place where institutionally we can make those changes or we can acknowledge what what's working so thank you very much when you transition me a plumber by exiting
062this group and inviting so can we do that please and so the board members yeah and then the board members they have other questions that are underway loser now we've that's hot great so thank you so much to our panelists that really appreciate your time tonight and of the audience appreciated hearing from you and welcome to City Council and the school board to the stage and just I'm going to pass down the microphone I know the City Council has these fancy name tags but want to make sure everybody has a chance to introduce some stuff we'll start with I'm Jonathan Edmond Shelley Newland school board member keeps it friendly your City Council Tom blue balls Cheers City Council get an Allen egg school board member crystal thank you all so this isn't part of the
063night this is it - no problem we do this periodically and so we sort of set aside this party to be able to address any questions you might have does not have to be related to this topic at all if you have no questions that will sort of let the these folks sort of reflect on what they heard and they may have things to save is there anybody in the audience who would like to ask your question the school board City Council about this topic premiere tonight or about anything online because we do want to fulfill our our our responsibilities in the public to allow the SOPA forum anybody involved we have two microphones here come on up there on Mike I do have a question and it's has nothing to do with what we
064just experienced my question is does the city have a plan and what I mean by that is I'm seeing a lot of billion going on [Music] housing it's bad we're very neutral about this I just see a lot of building going on and I don't know that the city has the infrastructure to support that and maybe it does so I'm just wondering it doesn't plan that's a great question hard thing so yeah we are seeing a lot of building a lot of it was property that was put in place years and years ago into the city and that developing because we're in a healthy environment economy wise and there have been some laws that changed the state level that have made it really a great environment for development so yeah we are seeing a lot
065more development there really wasn't any through the period of the economy that we that we all lived through so in terms of infrastructure we've talked a lot about that over the years about how we have aging infrastructure a lot of that refers to pipes that are in the ground that are just old they've been there a long time and I'm going to need to be replaced but certainly we do have some vital systems in our community sewer system the water system that we have to be cognizant of how many citizens that we conserve and so that's a priority of the City Council I'll pass this on to let them weigh in too it's something we talk about constantly lately there have been some denials on our part of some development simultaneously however we have an
066affordable housing affordable housing task force which is sort of aggressively working on ways we can tinker with our code to make it possible to provide some of the middle housing that's missing instead of in swords and so we have a lot of single family residents at disproportion amount of those kind of resin and we are aware that we're getting very close up or not are there to environment where the elderly part of our community can't afford to stay here yeah which it's not something we want there they have a ton of wisdom there are volunteer army and the people that we don't want to lose from our community additionally the young adults who are entering their early adulthood and careers many of them can't afford to live here either so that part of our demographic
067is something that's on our mind nobody has the cancer yet but I think some people on the panel may have something to say about it anybody like the question was for the council if you want to raise your hand Matt yeah but micromanage of working is it yeah all right so just want to make sure that people understand that a lot of the decisions that were faced with it's not a like or dislike sort of decision that their standards that were held to in a lot of these and you know some of these things might not taste very well but we still need to swallow them and deal with them I think we're making the adjustments so that there is more logic and reasoning equality and how we grow and just how we approach growth
068but is there leading to a lot of the things that are now we're kind of set in motion years ago and so there's very little that we can do now but as he also mentioned we are slowing things down we have denying some annexations recently we have you know unfortunately we decide we deny one big project that came back and bit us and we learned from that made some adjustments oh so we are listening but there's only so much that we can do with with some of these projects and some of these developments so the question about infrastructure as it relates to growth there is that perception I think that all of the growth is what is causing our infrastructure to fail and that's not necessarily true it's a lack of maintenance and keeping up
069with with that over the years and it would have the the pipes in the ground are failing because there are more people using water and sewer their family because they're old and those needed to be replaced regardless of how many people live here frankly it makes it easier to replace them lightning might strike they are saying that the expanding our our sewer treatment plant and our water treatment plant that is possible because we have new people that are building and part of the fees that are associated with new building our system development charges and so people who build are assessed these other fees that kind of that are designed to to facilitate the incremental growth that they are cause those the need that they are causing so you say alright we're going to have this
070many more people moving to town and going to require this much more treatment capacity so this is how much and we know is that it cost this much so for every thing every new dwelling we're going to charge this much and so that that perception that the growth is causing the infrastructure to fail I just wanted to kind of address that and that when we grow we are collecting money so that we can expand those systems but we still need to repair the stuff that's already here anybody else in the council have so anybody who knows me knows this is a topic that I could literally talk for hours about and it's so for that reason that this is really hard for me to talk about because I gotta sound like to talk about it
071so I'm just I'm net talk about it about what I see from a high level and Somerton has infrastructure problems so Tim is also a very expensive place to live and you know I grew up here I made a sincere effort to place my family here call this my homeland I tell people I want to live work and play and silver didn't like appliance and sorting and when I came back two years ago I came back likely possibly great guy nice houses great standard living all that but I've changed since then and I have a much more different perspective some of you may know that I own a shop here in town for seven years they're gonna lock interacted with a lot of youth in this community and I know dozens if not hundreds of
072young people in this community that want to stay but they can't afford to live here and it is made a huge tremendous perspective change for myself I wouldn't met my bias I have a daughter that's one of those people and I don't want silverton to be in the leaves growth can sometimes pay for itself sometimes it doesn't sometimes I think maybe me and Dan sometimes disagree on that a little bit about just how far that goes but the reality is in the state of Oregon if we try to turn off the bow and sing people in Silverton they wouldn't force us to do something just like they did on the north end of town and they completely have to do the right to do that so for me it's about thinking smart it's about what
073do we want to have happen and can we control it so it's not more than we can handle it and still keep our small town behind and I want to see us focus on I hope some people are offended by this I used to live in one of them but I don't want to see any more big mansions and Silverton and I think we do have that we don't need anymore the ones that are here great you're welcome stay but I think we need to do more affordable housing in yeah that's gonna be growth as far as our infrastructure its behind it is fine and but - Edina was saying it has to be replaced in ways we could grow weak even stopped growing completely we still have to pay out the billions of and
074we have these large tracts of land that were annexed into the city in the 90s and in the early 2000s and those are already pre-approved there's nothing we can do to stop them they've just been waiting for the economy turn around or what but we can't say no more huge ending stations we didn't try that but I also don't feel and I also don't feel that our neighbors when I say neighbors I mean this the small landowners that happen to live right next door to us haven't Hager - and their way look there well estate your septic system has failed the County says well you're out of luck pede annexed into the city I consider them part of our community I don't stop at the city's boundaries to think this is so urgent and we
075owe it to them to welcome them into our community they want to join us and oh by the way they better have some fun in taxes to join you can see it might help us pay for it I bet y'all some counsel that means to everything other the questions anybody else we're working there's a lot of dealers yes there we have a a wastewater treatment plant matter plan we have a water treatment master plan we have transportation master plan so that we have plans for all of these different systems but there it's it's a process getting the funding in place to carry those plans out and doing it in a methodical strategic sequence so yes there there are multiple plans and we are constantly updating them yes there is a plan it's called the comprehensive
076plan required plan twenty years out everybody up there knows that my wish is that everybody would know the rules and then everybody plays by the rules tell us market people mark my question is what opportunities for equity and inclusion exist right now sitting right where you are that can be worked toward or implemented the team went from the school board point I had to that first so one of the important things that we're doing at the school district is reaching out to groups that have been traditionally been invited to talk about things that impact all of our students and we have a really great opportunity through the Student Success act to reach out to different groups that again are usually at the table our superintendents told me just this weekend about efforts to reach out
077to et plus community to Hispanics community and I think the other group were people with different abilities or students with different abilities so that is work that is required for us to get an additional two million dollars per year from the state and it's a nice it's a nice way to bring people in that haven't been represented to be able to hear from them and to know a different perspective so that that those perspectives can be included in plans moving forward yeah we have a meeting the first Monday of every month where we listen and so it it's everybody an equal shot to come forward with whatever is important to them whatever plan they have whatever grapes they have so you know and if you've attended one of our meetings you'll realize that you take
078advantage of that opportunity so it is there every single meeting that we have and we are always excited when folks have something to come forward and I would say one of the bigger projects or plans that has come forward started because of just that there was a group of folks that really cared about energy and climate and came to the city and worked with us work somewhere utility know and a plant came together they presented it we liked it an awful lot and that's the direction we're going so hopefully we'll see a lot more of that I don't want to speak for for the principle of our high school or for the for the folks who are involved in this but I do know that the weight Lockett has convened an equity group at the
079high school that's made up of some PD members and most importantly students and they're doing some important work around conversations about what it what it means to be inclusive and what issues the high schools that have experienced in the past how they can move forward really positively and I really really like the the schools are one of the most important places that we can start this conversation and empowering our young people to be able to speak their truth without fear and to be able to work together collaboratively as a community in their own right just as we saw earlier on the stage I think is critical so I think we can really use that as a model moving forward even in our younger versions even with the middle school and elementary schools in a nature
080that's really exciting and I just wanted to commend principal Lockett and his and his team for that work I just wanted to piggyback on what Janet said the other thing that school district or the are in terms of her attendant has reimplemented is a district-wide equity committee and this is just not a committee that's going to be you know looking at things write a policy and done in six months this is going this is an intensive process that these educators teachers community members are involved in and it eventually we're going to have some kind of see in our district I think but I think the most important situation with this is the conversation and the conversations that are going to be happening with the committee so this is a district-wide one high school one and
081district-wide so I think I can safely say for myself that we are you know I'm very committed to this type of work and it is never-ending it's definitely it's a long process and it's a marathon and not a sprint and we have to work together for it so I'd say from the city standpoint ours our city staff has an equity program that they're there just great I think my staff level I spend a lot of my time thinking about why we all look the same on the council by our committees many of them all look the same and I do think it's our responsibility to go out and reach out to other groups in the community make sure they know that they're welcome to apply we don't have a quota system I want the best
082candidate but I I know they're not even seeing the best candidate sometimes because they don't feel welcome to come apply any part of the conversation so I would agree with Shelly just talking about this is a really good first step getting the word out there that you know we we all want these things we share this you all want them but it wouldn't be here tonight and I but I think that there is a ton of work on us to go out and convince some groups that have been disenfranchised that we want them to be part of this process and I'm not just talking about people colored people with disabilities people in our town that that are on a different socio-economic scale that feel like there's no leadest group running our community we sure don't
083feel like to have them none of us are rich or any otherwise but I know that perspective is out there and I don't think it's reasonable for us to just sit back and say well you're wrong I think we need to go out and show those people all people that this is a welcoming environment we have a lot of committees of the city there's a lot of work that tears can do and certainly I get a lot of joy out of seeing multiple names on the ballot for our petitions I don't think it's I don't think it's a great people window he runs for positions we really want people to be interested in serving and this is a community of servants it really is so I think it's just important to let everybody know that
084this starts open we watching walk through anybody else that wants to add to that we have any other questions anybody else about I think we got time for one more quick close up really quickly I'm sorry what School Board in the city is gonna do about the bullying issues that's going on and I am my daughter - victim of it and I'm also we took a minute and I also would like to know because this is also personal to me what the school board in the city the saving the boyís rights to losing their jobs for victims victims of domestic violence so that they don't lose their jobs in the city of Silverton because that's happened to me and so that is two items are personal to me and there's also a Plus issues with
085students right in the middle of the buses on the floor not having sees so those are the three issues that are going on that just living here one year that I have noticed the bulk of that I think is well appreciating you ask both entities you probably know the school court is a separate district so we don't actually go in together and a lot of the things you said I think are related with student experience although I would say that what we were here to talk about tonight I've heard a lot of words equity diversity inclusion on the website of her a lot of words like racism of the other bullying is no less on that list than anything else where of a matter and it as a community we have to learn a light
086ship and hurt that word earlier we need to model the right behavior and it needs to become uncomfortable for people to do that but you're talking about a very complex problem that I think we're just finally starting to talk about in the open so it's we have what to do it's it's sickening to me to hear that that happens to our news it's not isolated with young people no it happens people of all ages anybody want to answer that thank you I mean at an individual level I hope you're elevating their concerns to folks that need to address the school board itself is obviously going to be immediate to the screen is that's it as a board however we deduce adopt a plan that does outline additional points to that to make sure everybody feels
087welcome in all cases just about race it's always and I think hard to do that we're going to be reviewing this plan based on the experience of our community and the feedback that hopefully may be filtered out to our children so I hope you are elevating those outside so one of the things that was reinforced to me when cafes were speaking up here was the story that Sara wake was talking about children who are in a place where they can't stand up for other children that's really powerful and a lot of times bullying or treatments that isn't is it right happens when teachers aren't around in fact that most of happens when teachers aren't around and so teachers don't know so relying on adults to solve those problems is sometimes not super efficient but we
088can't rely on adults to create systems where students own the culture of their schools and they make it a place where everybody belongs and so I think that everybody is my personal viewpoint and being an elected official I think that the school district is making strides to work in that direction but I would also just underline what what Jonathan said that it reach out to your principal reach out to your principal and talk to your principal and our superintendent healthy person he's right over there tonight and he's welcome he is very eminent a good guy to approach is very approachable guy so we encourage you to to move through those those levels so just continuing the conversation I'm gonna do in the last two two years or so there has been a significant breakthrough in
089realizing that we need social and emotional health curriculum in our district and in all districts I just got back from a four-day conference in Portland and there were many many sessions on social and emotional learning for students and children and this incorporates multiple ways of teaching children when they're coming to school how to regulate their emotions and they're soaking you know issues and such and we're just hitting the tip of that but it's there and the Student Success act money the number one criteria for that money to be implemented is mental and behavioral health nonetheless so we're going to make sure that we you know apply for that money and get that money and start implementing it for that reason and then also equity components as well so anybody else let's go for add to
090that from the city okay we're out of time unfortunately I think we could all probably be here all night would love to listen to more questions and provide more answers I could say you know even in the 30 minutes that we've had this section that seems like it's been very popular something maybe we can do again consider a joint account hall meeting like this but as you know the principal reasons for coming tonight was the first portion our revenue so with this I just have a couple of things I would definitely first want to thank the panel I don't know if they're still in the audience but thank you so much for the rich come forward and share your experiences in our community that's that's definitely not easy I want to thank our city staff
091including especially Elizabeth graves put so much time into this event I also want to thank Kristy Davis at the silver claws library thank she sound her thoughtful facilitation tonight and to the high school staff for for hosting us tonight thanks to the superintendent mr. Peterson has really been I said it earlier partner in leading on this front and I really expect us to have more of this conversation this is not the last thing as you heard earlier we will continue talking about this will continue into we don't have to anymore but thank you so much to the City Council and the school board for joining us today I know these people are not gonna run around out the door if you have a question for them but as councillor Plummer said we all do publicly
092and we'd love to see you there it's for us at least and a better school board it's not a very packed house right now so we love people that is employers but thank you all for coming tonight taking the time out of your evening and joining us for this very importantly thank you to the meeting pulse is going to stay open for a while so if you're locked into that and have other questions that's one way you can do that but there is also the same questions that are on the leading pulse and an opportunity for you to write questions if you want to leave them in the box outside that will help us develop where this conversation needs to go was that one of me to remind you look thank you all right good
093evening everyone [Music]