HomeMy WebLinkAboutCity Council Committees - Cultural Communities Board - 06/26/2018 (2)Cultural Communities Board Meeting June 26, 2018
Minutes Kent, Washington
Date: June 26, 2018 Time: 6:30 p.m.
Place: Centennial Center
Attending: Rand Al Hammadi, Yusuf Bashir, Marvin Eckfeldt, Norma Maldonado,
Mizanur Rahman, Cesar Rangel, Ta Kwe Say, Vaivao Semisi-Tupou, Ted Schwarz;
Sara Franklin-Phillips, Marvin Eckfeldt, Marwa Almusawi,
Absent:, Shanrkeep Kaur Shoker, Sonia Morales, Samiha Bhuiyan, Marwa
Almusawi,
Item Description
1. Call to order
Chair calls the meeting to order at 6:30pm
2. Roll call
Chair did the roll call. See above for attendees.
3. Yusuf Presentation
Yusuf Bashir, one of our board members began the meeting with a presentation
about his life experience as a refugee, initially from Kenya. He talked about the
difficulties that refugees experience when they are placed in a refugee camp. The
uncertainty of how long they are going to be in one camp.
Yusuf then talked about the process of being placed on a list to eventually be
resettled in the U.S. He mentioned that it took years and a couple of moves from
camp to camp before the process of resettlement took place.
Once Yusuf and family arrived in WA, he shared about the difficulties he and his
family faced when it come to acculturating to the U.S.
4. Subcommittee groups
The subcommittees meet once again to discuss what their action items would be for
the remainder of the year. Each one of the subcommittees met for about 45
minutes to discuss their action items.
There was an update from the education subcommittee, since they had met outside
of the board meeting. Yusuf, Norma attended the equity meeting put together by
the Kent School district.
Cultural Communities Board Meeting June 26, 2018
Minutes Kent, Washington
The conversation then revolved around the difficulties that immigrant and refugee
families face when it comes to receiving what they consider to be adequate services
by the school district.
This conversation took more time than anticipated.
5. Adjourn
Meeting adjourned by Chair at 8:03pm.