2024-01-23 NHCHLC Minutes
New Hanover County Hispanic/Latino Commission
January 23, 2024 5:00 PM
I. Call to Order: Meeting called to order at 5:06 p.m.
Members present:Dr. Andres Afanador, Dr. Amanda Boomershine, Gabriel Guerra, Gustavo
Rodea, Maria del Carmen Rodriguez Morales, Dr. Edelmira Segovia, Helen Tarokic
Members absent: Flor Bautista, Dr. Susanna Lopez-Legentil,
Staff: Monica Rohena
Guest: Boy Scouts of America
Levi Mullis: 910-395-1100 ext. 102. levi.mullis@scouting.org
Martin Clemmer: 910-395-1100 ext. 110 martin.clemmer@scouting.org
II. Welcome New Commission Members
The new commission members Janeth Howard and Natalie Picazowere welcomed. Introductions
were made between the current members and the new members
III. Approve Minutes
Motion by approve November 2023 minutes. Helen Motion. Amanda Seconded it.
IV. Approve Agenda
Motion to approve agenda. Andres Motion. Gabriel Seconded it.
V. Guest Speakers
There is interest for a Spanish Speaking Troop in the community at least from the Sunset Park
Community. A video was shown in Spanish, please use link to watch it
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MNaBTdiFHbM
This group works in the New Hanover and Pender County.
th
The Cub Scouts is for boys and girls from kindergarten through 5 grade. This is for the
entire family to participate.Participation is encouraged of parents and siblings that are
too young to join.
Each pack is run by a volunteer leader. They are looking for more Spanish speaking
volunteers to be the unit leadership for the pack. The volunteers would also have to pay
for uniforms, etc.
Children can participate in different activities, such as, games, projects, songs, outdoor
activities, trips, community projects, etc. Children will earn patches for the activities
they do.
Some of the costs associated with the Cub Scouts are a registration fee (yearly),
insurance, cost of uniforms, a fee for the manual and other activity fees. They do have
foundation grant money that can assist to cover registration fees. Scouting also has lots of
opportunities for fundraising.
The Cub scouts does not have transportation services for the meetings but when they set
up the packs, they could try to work with the parents to try to set up carpooling. They can
also figure out where the majority of the members would be so that they could group
them and they may be able to do the meeting within walking distance.
The packs can change the meeting times to accommodate the best meetings for the Latino
families that work late into the weekdays and on Saturdays.
VI. Chair Comments
When the Media approach any of the members of this commission, remember that any
kind of statement that you all make on behalf of this commission needs to be unified and
within the guidelines of your establishment. It should not be about personal opinions
when you are representing this commission. The new protocol is to refer them to the
Chair
Amanda will send the link to the videos about the conversations.
The best practice when sharing videos with this commission is to send the actual official
video link and give the exact minute that should be watched. Be careful with video clips
that have been extracted because they tend to extract only the part that they need which
tends to favor their point of view. Then you become one of their followers, to their point
of view, without wanting to.
VII. Committee Updates
Information and Civic Engagement Subcommittee (Helen, Gustavo, Edel)
a. Results from the one question survey (What is the most important issue to the
Hispanic/Latino Community?). At the resource fair there were lots of responses.
o There were 22 responses in favor of medical attention/healthcare
o Immigration was number 2
o All the other topics on the questionnaire were tied at approximately 6-7 each
2. Advocacy for Public Education Subcommittee (Amanda, Andres, Flor)
The letter for Mosley came from this committee. They have had three meetings thus far.
Three action items were chosen.
1. The potential for a welcome center new comer school before all of the conversations
began.
2. The NHC Liaison program in which individuals are placed in the school system to
help the Latino families.
3. Language access software/equipment for interpretation and translation. For example,
using iPads. Try to secure financing for people to use these services to expand the use
of Liaisons for people who do not speak English.
Language Equity Subcommittee (Gabriel, Maria, Susanna)
Have been unable to meet because Gabriel was busy with the resource fair. We plan to look
at the information that Marimer provided. We want to learn more about what was covered
and doing a Language Access collaborative. There is so much already happening so we want
to see what we want to focus on.
Edel will keep everyone in the loop because UNCW is in the process of exploring an AI
software for mass consumption.
The two new commission members will have to choose their subcommittee assignments
and let us know.
VIII. Old Business
Resource Fair Recap:
Thank you to Gabriel for your leadership at the Resource Fair. Especially with the short amount
of time there was and the amount of community collaborators that were present on that day. It
was impressive. We received great feedback and we want your feedback on what we want to
adjust for the next time we do it.
There were thirty-five organizations registered and there were six cancellations.
Gabriel will send out a survey to all the organizations that came out to get their insight.
What was mentioned is that outdoor events are better than indoor events, food, music and
maybe some giveaways.
We had a good turnout even though there were other events happening on the same day.
Maybe scheduling it for a Sunday afternoon or evening to get more people to come out.
IX. Other Business
Nominations Working Group
o A spreadsheet has been made that lists all of the nominations that have been sent
in. We did not bring it today but we will send it via email. It is broken down into
separate tabs for each nominating pod. All the due dates are listed and each
category has six or seven slots for each of those slots so we may nominate that
many people.
o In the first one that went out, two people were nominated for early childhood.
o We need to keep a record of those who have been awarded.
Upcoming events
o January 27 and January 28, 2024, 9:00am to 3:00pm Faith Action ID at UNCW
Morton Hall 683 Racine Dr, Wilmington, NC 28403
o February 7, 2024, 11:00am to 12:00pm Latino Alliance Meeting via Zoom.
o February 11, 2024, 11:30am to 5:30pm - Free Vision Clinic at The Eye Center at
Independence Mall All time slots are full. They have scheduled 60 people and
80 more called after that. Some people are driving up to 2 hours to come to this.
We have requested another date.
o Feb 20, 2024, 5:30 PM - Free: Afro-Latinidad: Dance & Music, History, Healing
at UNCW Campus Events, Beckwith Recital Hall
o February 22, 2024, 5:30pm to 7:00pm NC Connect Networking Opportunity: at
the Harrelson Center, Plaza on Princess 410 Princess Street.
o March 10, 2024, 1:00pm - How to Become a Homeowner, Sunday (Spanish),
Main Library 201 Chestnut St., Wilmington, NC 28401
X. Public Comments
Amanda has been sharing with the Education subcommittee the school board meeting
links. She will share them with the rest of the commission. They are on YouTube and
they are streamed live.
o WWAY: Conversations about a newcomer school are on the table in New
Hanover County https://www.wwaytv3.com/conversations-about-a-newcomer-
school-are-on-the-table-in-new-hanover-county/
o NHCS & NHC Commission Joint Board Meeting: ~1:36
o https://www.youtube.com/live/LWiWuxwVYus?si=81As3ZH7eal1NmWu
o NHCS Board of Ed. Special Meeting | Jan. 16, 2024
o https://www.youtube.com/live/IcHCiontnCA?si=13_bIX6HG4o_N656
o NHCS Board of Ed. Public Hearing Meeting | Jan. 16, 2024
o https://www.youtube.com/live/n-ShH1ghRF4?si=IylBL56yV8-fg-PH
XI. Adjourn: Meeting was adjourned at 6:17 p.m.
Motion to adjourn the meeting. Amanda Motion. Andres Seconded it.
NEXT MEETING Feb 27, 2024, 5:00pm at the NHC GOVERNMENT BUILDING