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Home My WebLink About2024-10-24 NHCHLC Minutes NEW HANOVER COUNTY HISPANIC/LATINO COMMISSION Location: UNCW Truist Hall, 680 College Rd. October 22, 2024 – 5:00pm l. Call to Order & Roll Call- Meeting called to order at 5:03pm. Members present: Maria del Carmen Rodriguez, Gabriel Guerra, Amanda Boomershine, Andres Afanador, Janeth Howard, Helen Tarokic, Natalie Picazo, Lambeth Chalk, and Edelmira Segovia Members absent: Gustavo Rodea and Joseph Casares Staff: Monica Rohena Guest: II. Approve Agenda Motion to approve revised agenda, moving Other Business to the start Maria- Motion. Andres- Seconded it. III. Approve Minutes Motion to approve September 2024 minutes. Helen- Motion. Maria- Seconded it. IV. Chair Comments No comments other than each committee is working hard. VIII. Other Business 1. Register of Deeds – Morghan Collins Needs within the Hispanic/Latino community:  Passport day needed for Spanish-speaking residents to come and apply for a passport for their eligible family members. At the same event, they could access other NHC services.. Passports are recognized as a state ID. County needs to be familiar with other acceptable forms of ID (?)  Only the passport office is at the downtown location only. (all other services are at the government center and downtown). There are no bilingual staff in the passport office but they use a language line service to assist LEP clients.  Her office is noticing a lot of orthographic errors on birth certificate applications for Spanish-speaking families (misspelling, last name being listed as middle name, etc.); this may be due to the fact that someone at the hospital who doesn’t speak Spanish is completing the form just after the baby is delivered. The result is that it could take a year or more to get the correct birth certificate, thereby delaying services (including passport applications) for those children.  Birth certificate forms in Spanish- The US State Department does not offer an application in Spanish  There is a need for a bilingual notary at Novant Health on Saturdays and Sundays to assist with birth certificate applications and affidavits of parentship.  Some immigrants have tried to access marriage licenses and other services from the Deeds Office using foreign IDs and been denied, even though they should have been accepted. Documents an immigrant might have aren’t always recognizable. Helen will send some of these examples, so the register of deeds is familiar with them. Solutions the county is working on:  It would be helpful to have a passport day for the Spanish-speaking community when these could be filled out ahead of time with an interpreter. It is important that the event take place near a location they can get a money order if they don’t have a personal check. The event could be joined with one of the consulate visits.  Novant is working on having forms available before patients enter into an in- patient setting. They can have access to birth certificate forms before they ever have to go to state vital records.go to the hospital for labor and delivery Bilingual notaries will be available M-F at Novant.  Ask county manager if a combined Passport/TSA/TWIC Card Office could be opened at the government center location making it more accessible. Morghan will send us what a proposal for this would look like, as she has requested this before of the county manager and been denied.. 2. 911 Language Services/Interpreters  483,000 calls per year and there is an increase in calls needing Spanish speaker.  Language lines cause significant delay. The county now has bilingual telecommunicators on every shift and they are about to hire more part-time.  Since offering these services, there has been an increase in calls from Hispanic community.  Interpreters can slow things down during critical moments.  The commission has been asked to share with the community that there are bilingual telecommunicators available when a Spanish-speaker calls 911.  We suggested Monica do a Su condado show featuring the bilingual telecommunicators that we could share with the community.  We also suggested adding “FaithAction ID or other ID” at the end of their standard script when explaining what they need to have ready when an officer arrives. Only traffic accidents require ID. VI. Committee Updates Formatted: Font: (Default) Times New Roman, 12 pt Formatted 1. Information and Civic Engagement Subcommittee 10 min Working on resolution. Requested information from Camino Research to see which counties have resolutions and they provided that list and some examples. 2. Advocacy for Public Education Subcommittee 10 min Lambeth and Amanda met with the superintendent, assistant superintendent and some others during the One Community Dialogue with NHCS. They were very engaged and would like to meet again. We will send out another survey to the commission about what we want to ask during the next dialogue. Natalie will take on being chair of this committee as of now. 3. Language Equity Subcommittee 10 min End date for survey is Oct. 31. They will analyze the data gathered. There are 38 responses so far. More information about change of name for subcommittee. (?) Maria will reach out to churches to let them know of all the services that are available so that they can spread the word. VII. Old Business 1. H/L Commission Logo Design 5 min Designer is working on accessing software to use to finish design. VIII. New Business 1. Health and Wellness subcommittee 5 min th We would like to propose creating a 4 subcommittee. Andres and Joe will serve on that subcommittee, with others invited to join or attend meetings. This will serve the community by advocating for their healthcare needs. All present were in favor. 2. Maria requested that we add ‘Upcoming Events’ to future agendas so that everyone can help share information about events that might be relevant to the community. VIII. Other Business 1. Register of Deeds – Morghan Collins Needs within the Hispanic/Latino community:  Passport day needed. Passports are recognized as a state ID. County needs to be familiar with other acceptable forms of ID  Only the passport office is at the downtown location. (all other services are at the government center and downtown)  Birth certificate forms in Spanish- The US State Department does not offer an application in Spanish  There is a need for a bilingual notary on Saturdays and Sundays.  Documents an immigrant might have aren’t always recognizable. Helen will send some of these examples, so the register of deeds is familiar with them. Formatted: Numbered + Level: 1 + Numbering Style: 1, 2, 3, … + Start at: 1 + Alignment: Left + Aligned at: 0.5" + Indent at: 0.75" Solutions the county is working on:  It would be helpful to have a day when these could be filled out ahead of time with an interpreter. It is important that the event take place near a location they can get a money order if they don’t have a personal check. The event could be joined with one of the consulate visits.  Novant is working on having forms available before patients enter into an in- patient setting. They can have access to birth certificate forms before they ever have to go to state vital records. Bilingual notaries will be available M-F at Novant.  Ask county manager if a combined Passport/TSA/TWIC Card Office could be opened at the government center location making it more accessible. Morghan will send us what a proposal for this would look like. 2.1.911 Language Services/Interpreters 483,000 calls per year and there is an increase in calls needing Spanish speaker. Language lines cause significant delay. The county now has bilingual telecommunicators on every shift and they are about to hire more part-time. Since offering these services, there has been an increase in calls from Hispanic community. Interpreters can slow things down during critical moments. The commission has been asked to share with the community that there are bilingual telecommunicators available when a Spanish-speaker calls 911. We suggested Monica do a Su condado show featuring the bilingual telecommunicators that we could share with the community. We also suggested adding “FaithID or other ID” at the end of their standard script when explaining what they need to have ready when an officer arrives. Only traffic accidents require ID. IX. Public Comments X. Community Events \[this was not on the agenda that we approved, so we can’t add it now\] XI. Adjourn Meeting was adjourned at 6:01pm. NEXT MEETING – November 26, 2024 – 5:00pm, Government Center Room 137