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HAAB Minutes 01/27/2011 Hispanic Affairs Advisory Board RECEIVED APR 2 8 2011 RCl1\rd (}f County Commissionets January 27, 2011 6:00 p.m. Hala Hiller !-Jenning Coyle Coletta s: 7J-f- Collier County Boardroom - Building F v/ Members Present: Chairman Mario Ortiz; Manuel Gonzalez; David Correa; Alejandro Balan; Ileana Ramos; Valaree Maxwell; Zetty Rivera. Members Absent-Excused: William Forbes; Renato Fernandez. Others Present: Tatiana Gust, HAAB staff liaison. Call to Order: Chairman Mario Ortiz called the meeting to order at 6:09, noting that a quorum was established. Approve the Meeting Agenda: David Correa motioned to approve the agenda, seconded by Valaree Maxwell. The motion was carried 7-0. Approval of Minutes from the Meeting of January 27'h, 2011: David Correa motioned to approve the minutes, Alejandro Balan seconded. The motion carried 7-0. Old Business law enforcement report by Manny Gonzalez OPR (Office of Professional Regulation) also known as internal affairs allow the civilian population to oversee the sheriffs actions. It is important that the civilian population is involved in this type of program; the idea is to earn the trust of the public. Manny had an interview at the Sheriff office for a report, he had to write on leadership as part of a PhD assignment. Many presented the different styles of leadership and provide sample of well known individuals and relate their type of leadership to the group. Manny was interviewed at the sheriff f office to discuss about the Sherriffs office transition and what they want to do as an organization. Collier County is one of the safest counties in the states. The Sheriff is doing it with a cut in budget of 26Million dollars and with reduced staff. The sheriff office, in addition to the law enforcement officers also have approximate 800 civilians and other 60 volunteer and 40 auxiliary officers. Auxiliary officers are retired personnel. M!sc. .~orres. Date l..Q \ '2 <a.\ 1\ Item #: \l ~T.'.1 'A \"1-.._ .~"__.~_..,~."..,>.,_..~,___,___~_ ._,.,~"O"'~ With this staff the sheriff's office has reduced crime to 5% per year. He has done a great job; he has done more with less. He is a good manager. The Sheriff is also the director of fusion center. Fusion center is an organization funded by the Federals, with the purpose of detecting criminal activity and taking positive actions. It helps reduce crimes and reduces the mistrust. He does what he said he is going to do. We have spies in these community, they are retired CIA. They are always looking for people. New Business Mario would like to use the topic of law enforcement to get into the goals for the year. How do you relate the issues of crimes to the Spanish population? The report involves all crimes. They are not differentiated by ethnic groups. Some of them are not preventable, they are emotional. The issues with the Hispanic community relates to lack of education. Always goes back to the parents. What are the values that they teach to their kids? What are the issues that are affecting the Hispanic community? The issues are affecting not only the Hispanic, but everyone. The unemployment rates are still high. Zetty, has a recommendation for the BCC in regards to invite the community for a twice a year conference for the community to participate. The HAAB board shall ensure proper communication, although the setting does not favor conversation. He would like to explore the idea of what they can have in place for future meetings. There was discussion in how to get the interest of the Hispanic community to bring items up. Hispanic are not motivated. The Haitian people do a great effort trying to learn or do something different. Valaree presented a motivating history about a young man trying to change his life. He sought help from the community, and he received the help from the community because of his personal effort. Hispanic population has gotten used to be helped and sometimes they don't look for better things. How can they refine the purpose of the guidelines? People in welfare become dependent of the welfare. There are some people that want to learn English but they don't know where to go. There are free classes at high school but people are afraid of their immigration situation. Assignment for Zetty is to refine the proposal for the workshop and the ideas associated to it. Please bring it back to the HAAB board. The group has to define the topic; the issues are in the following areas: 1. Education 2. Housing 3. Health 4. Employment 5. Inability to vote and take any responsibility in governance that affects them Suggestion was made in regards to that some of the tasks can be given to another group, such as the Hispanic chamber of commerce of Naples. In this way they can participate as individuals and there is no violation of the sunshine law. The question for the group is, do we want the HAAB performing the workshop or we give it to another entity so they are not so restricted? Many of the questions brought up at this board are questions that cannot be handle at this board level. The difficult task is to get the Hispanic population to participate in the activities that the board is proposing. The group would like to take action items to the BCC at least once or twice a year. If they as a board can do this, this will be a measure of success. Members and Staff Comments The Hispanic population may get in trouble due to the language barrier. Many times they don't understand the regulations of the code enforcement. On the other hand, people do not respond to the violations on time and then they feel prosecuted. The information that code enforcement provides is in Spanish language as well. There are other areas or departments that also provide information in other languages. For the next meeting a member ofthe code enforcement will be invited, to share information of what they do and how is conveyed to the Hispanic population. Some discussion was around the table with regards to the majority of republicans in the parliament. Use resources to promote our agenda, what can we promote? Valaree indicated that as board they can listen, talk and discuss, but they can't promote. The HAAB is an advisory board to the BCC. Board analyze the times that the board have been involved in some action item taken to the board in the last twelve years . Payment of an examination at the schools . Issue of limiting Hispanic Community to speak Spanish at the hospital . Issue of paying the farmers an extra penny for the tomatoes ., .,..~_______"_~"'''__-''''''___'''W' ,. _"_ _,.~_.,._..._..m'_._'" Zetty presented some statistics in regards to education among the Hispanics. They are very low rates of Hispanic people with education. The big reason for Hispanics to drop out is because they have a hard time in passing the FCA TS, they give up. There is a language barrier. The other problem is that many bright kids that have 4.0 scores can't assist to higher education because they are undocumented. Florida does not allow enrollment of undocumented people into college. This is a very important issue because they are the future and they won't have the opportunity of higher education. One of the members concern is the lack of communication. It is very difficult to make people participate. A good idea maybe is to bring some refreshments to get them interested. Another member concern is the lack of education. Many kids don't have the will in themselves to keep going to school. Mario Ortiz, chair wants to be able to do a fair job. His goal is to work as a team and he would like contribution from everyone. He would also like to have some measures of success. Adjourn: Motion to adjourn made by David Correa to adjourn the meeting at 7:54 p.m, second by Ileana Ramos. The motioned carried by a group vote of 7-0. Next Meeting: The next meeting of the HAAB will be held on February 24'h, 2011 at 6:00 p.m. at the Board Room. a _Ll(-?O If Chairman, Mario Ortiz Date ,_.,.".~,"----;.._,. """-,,,,--,--~"'''--''---'''~-'-'-