09/08/1986 Meeting - Laserfiche WebLink

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Ms, Wooten said that she was concerned with the status of the minority populations in Eugene, She said it did not look good to her. Ms, Dean agreed. e Ms, Wooten said she saw the commission as a tool to do more outreach in the community, Ms, Dean said that the Minority Commission has too few resources to do as much research and outreach as they desire, Ms, Dean said that the Minority Commission is composed of two Native Americans, Dne Asian, two blacks, and tWD Caucasians, There are currently no Hispanic members, Mr, Rutan asked what percentage of the population is considered minority, Ms, Dean responded that seven percent of the community is minority. She said that she thought that figure included the University of Oregon population, but she was not sure. Mr. Rutan asked Ms, Dean if the commission had representation from minority groups that are involved in the University of Oregon activities, He said he thought thi s was an instance where it would be important to have the University of Oregon working closely with the City, Ms, Dean respDnded that when Derri ck Be 11 resigned, they had heard from the University groups, Nothing further had come of that, but the commission did work with student groups closely and sponsored some of their activities such as Martin Luther King Day, Cinco de MaYD, and the Pow Wow, D. Womens Commission Ms, Pate said that last year the Womens Commission had conducted a racism workshop that had as its focus racism within the community and how to make e Eugene a mo re comfortable place for minorities to settle and work, The commission had also worked on increasing its ties with other womens groups, The commission was especially interested in the social servi ce de 1 i very network for women, which is connected with the Human Services Planning effort currently going on, The commission had also held its annual women on boards and commissions events. In 1982 the commission had looked into the percentage of women appointed to councils and commissions, At that time the percentage was only 24 percent, In 1986 the percentage has risen to 38,55 percent. She congratulated the council for appointing women, Mayor Obie said that the percentage of new appointees that are women was now closer to 50 percent, Ms, Pate said that the commission had been concerned when Behana House recently closed. They had lobbied for restoration of a treatment program in the community aimed specifically at serving indigent women, She said that the commissiDn had heard that the Social Services Fund will fund this program, The commission had become involved with the Children Services lobby, They plan to lobby the State legislature for more support for childrens services in Oregon. Ms, Pate said that the commission had taken a strong stand against Measure 6 Dn the November ballot, the measure prohibiting State funding for abortions. She said that commission members felt that this measure discriminated against lDw-income women, e MINUTES--City Council Dinner Meeting September 8, 1986 Page 6