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15 <br />and then leaving for reasons discussed—no cultural center, too few events, food, lack of <br />cultural competency, sense of isolation, etc. (Asian American) <br />• Cultural competency is important. Learning how to engage community is important. <br />(Latinx) <br />• Number one concern of Muslim community is safety at work, on street, at mall. (Muslim) <br />• We are asked to many focus groups and want to see the results. (Native American/Alaska <br />Native) <br />• Need some news in Spanish or Spanish caption, especially when dealing with safety and <br />things the whole community needs to know about. (Latinx Family Member) <br />• There is a need for centralized information. In other big cities you have a queer community <br />center where you know to go for information. (LGBTQ) <br />• Need gender diversity awareness program for City employees and for employers. <br />Transponder can help. (Trans) <br />• Need training in community on what hate crimes are and about City process for responding <br />to bias incidents and hate crimes. (Native American/Alaska Native) <br />• Cultural Competency: Extreme amount of ignorance, the amount of knowledge when it <br />comes to diversity, not taught in school, not enough to reinforce understanding. (African <br />American/Biracial Youth) <br />• Cultural Competency: You’re watching a slavery movie and the teacher says, if it’s too <br />uncomfortable you can leave the room (everyone looks at the one African American kid); it <br />pushes people farther into their shell. (African American/Biracial Youth) <br />• Need more teachers of color: Black teachers go the extra mile to help us. White teachers <br />might, but there’s no one who has gone as far as the black teachers do. They push harder <br />for us because they know about our barriers. (African American/Biracial Youth) <br /> <br /> <br />Recommendations <br /> <br /> From a human rights perspective, those who are experiencing human rights violations – in <br />this case the right to be free from discrimination – should take the lead in defining the problems <br />they are experiencing and in identifying solutions. For this reason, we invited people from <br />marginalized communities to review and help shape the questions asked in the ten focus groups <br />and used contacts from these communities to help identify participants and organize the groups. <br />We functioned primarily as note-takers for the focus groups so as to concentrate on capturing the <br />participants’ words and voices, and shared a draft of our findings and recommendations with all <br />participants to get feedback before preparing this final report. The recommendations made here <br />flow from what we heard during the focus group discussions and from the feedback we received <br />from the participants on our draft of this report. <br /> <br />Goals attainable within a short time frame <br /> <br />1. Implement a rapid response policy for immediate public response by top city officials (e.g., <br />Mayor, City Council Chair, City Manager, Chief of Police) to hate crimes and other activities <br />that threaten or bring harm to vulnerable communities in Eugene. People with power and <br />voice need to show vulnerable communities they care. <br /> <br />2. Recruit or assign a staff member who will serve as a full-time liaison between the City of <br />Eugene and people of color, Muslims, the LGBTQ population and other marginalized <br />September 12, 2018, Work Session - Item 1