Diversity Council picks topics for coming year’s panel discussions and priorities, beginning with resource list

Posted By: David Fortier February 5, 2024

By Haneen Alkabasi, TBE intern

The Diversity Council met at its regular meeting the end of January to develop subcommittees, solidify panel discussions and give a resource list update.

Panel discussions are among the top priorities of the Diversity Council agenda again this year. Another priority is the completion of a resource list that has been in the development over the past few years.

“The biggest thing we are hoping to accomplish is publishing our resource list,” Diversity Council chair Jaymie Bianca said.

The list is coming along, Bianca said. She hopes to get it published on Feb. 6 on a graphic template. The resource list will highlight Bristol’s inclusive organizations to respond to any threats and promote diversity.

In addition, the list council members discussed topics that they would like to focus on for the year.

 “I don’t know if we’re going to solve problems,” Bianca said. “We can certainly raise awareness and have discussions about those problems.”

The council agreed that they would pursue three topics and set up subcommittees for each. The topics are anti-racism, religious diversity, and small business and commerce.

Council member David Rackliffe raised the issue of religious diversity, council member Antonio Lopes said he was interested in anti-racism and council member Marcus Patton, small business.

“I’m really interested in religious diversity and the fact that we got some significant issues in the Middle East that are causing problems,” Rackliffe said.

“Maybe we can have a discussion around anti-racism, and we can identify what we see are the issues,” Lopes said.

“I’ve been looking for opportunities to create a space for our business owners to tap into diversity a bit and how it relates to their business,” Patton said.

Bianca said subcommittees will consist of three to four people discussing racism, religious diversity and business. They will discuss how each relates to diversity, equity and inclusion.

She said members could go about solving the issue and bringing it to life.

This year’s panel series will begin in March with one focusing on youth, who will come from diverse backgrounds. They will speak about their experiences in high school and the community.

 Originally, members wanted this panel in February but collectively decided to push it to March to focus on the resource list.

All were in favor of having a youth panel for the panel series on Tuesday, March 26.

Some other panel ideas the members shared were ones on police, in May, and small business, to be determined.

Bianca said since May is Law Enforcement Appreciation Month, a panel makes sense. An invitation will go out to the Police Chief and members of the community to participate.

The topic will be safety, community members will be asked to contribute questions for a Q and A session.

All were in favor of the panel from 6 to 7 p.m. on Tuesday, May 28.

Under new business, Bianca reminded committee members that attendance is important.

While it did not appear that this was an issue for those in attendance, missing three meetings jeopardizes membership of the council.

Diversity Council Vice Chair and Secretary Allison Willette said the rule about going under 60 percent of all meetings is individualized for 12 months starting when the member joined the committee.

Meeting adjourned at 7:32 p.m.

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