Minutes September 12, 2019

Commissioners Present:
First District: Jan Blalock , Joanne M. Brown
Second District: Trisha Almond (Chair), Caitlin Quinn (Officer-at-Large)
Third District: Lorena Barrera (Vice-Chair)
Fourth District: Leticia Padilla, Dianna MacDonald
Fifth District: Jessica Wood

Commissioners Absent:
Fifth District: Ariana Diaz De Leon, Peggy Rogers  

1. CALL TO ORDER – INTRODUCTIONS – MISSION STATEMENT
   Chair Almond called the meeting to order at 6:00PM
2. APPROVAL OF THE SEPTEMBER 12, 2019 AGENDA
   
   Motion to approve the September 12, 2019 Agenda.
   
   Moved by: Commissioner Blalock
   Second: Commissioner Wood
   
   Ayes: 6       Noes: 0       Absent: 3      Abstained: 1
   
   Commissioners Diaz De Leon, Rogers, and Quinn were absent. Commissioner Almond abstained as Chair.
   
   The motion passed.
3. APPROVAL OF MEETING MINUTES
   
   Motion to approve the August 8, 2019 Meeting Minutes.
   
   Moved by: Commissioner Barrera
   Second: Commissioner Blalock
   
   Ayes: 5       Noes: 0       Absent: 3      Abstained: 2
   
   Commissioners Diaz De Leon, Rogers, and Quinn were absent. Commissioner Brown abstained due to her absence at the August meeting. Commissioner Almond abstained as Chair.
   
   The motion passed.
4. PUBLIC COMMENT ON AGENDIZED ITEMS
   No members from the public addressed the commission.
5. COMMISSIONER ANNOUNCEMENTS
   • Commissioner Wood reported the Mochilada event was very well attended and successful. She also spoke about the “Women in Conversation” event she attended with Commissioner Almond and how it was a very empowering event. Additionally, she mentioned the field trip to Athena House is being rescheduled for October 18^th. Finally, she mentioned attending the Sonoma County Gang Prevention event.
   • Commissioner Blalock reported speaking on KSRO regarding Women’s Equality Day and events happening in Sonoma County.
   • Commissioner Almond announced the Sonoma Women’s Club invited her to speak at an event. She also mentioned she invited local women veterans to address the Commission in November. Almond also read a report from Commissioner Rogers (Rogers not present at this meeting) regarding her impressions of the presentation of the Women’s Equality Day Resolution at the Board of Supervisors (BOS). Furthermore, Almond reported attending the BOS meeting where the CSW report was accepted by the BOS. She mentioned the report was very much appreciated.
6. OPENINGS AND APPOINTMENTS
   • Chair Almond reported that there are vacancies in the First, Second, Third and Fourth Districts.
7. PUBLIC COMMENT ON NON-AGENDIZED ITEMS
   Ms. Leslie Graves addressed the Commission regarding an exhibit she saw at the California Indian Museum & Cultural Center in Santa Rosa. She mentioned the exhibit is all about women and she mentioned how she was impressed with a display showing women registering to vote for the first time.
8. PRESENTATIONS 
   Commissioners heard from Ms. Jade Rayne and her work on self-defense after Chair Almond read the following bio to the public.
   
   Jade has been teaching women's self-defense to girls and women since 1992 when she completed her year-long instructor training with Toni Crossen who was a very well-known self-defense instructor in the Santa Cruz and Monterey area.
   
   Jade taught self-defense for 11 years in the Santa Cruz and Monterey area for the University of California Santa Cruz, for the City of Santa Cruz and for the Monterey Rape Crisis Center. During her time there, she also trained four women to become self-defense instructors.
   
   During her years teaching for the City of Santa Cruz she had the opportunity to teach beginning level classes for girls, aged 10 to 12, classes for teen girls, for adults women including women with disabilities and senior women. In addition, she taught intermediate level classes that included defense against weapons and defense against multiple attackers. 
   
   Since moving to Sonoma County in 2003, she has taught for the Sebastopol Community Center, Santa Rosa Parks and Recreation program, classes at local middle schools and high schools, numerous classes in the community for mothers and daughters, for teen girls and adult women as well as many private classes for individuals, groups and businesses.
   
   Jade holds a BA in Art from the University of California Santa Cruz and a Masters in in Counseling Psychology Institute of Transpersonal Psychology in Palo Alto. 
   
   Jade has also worked in the nonprofit sector with at-risk youth and for the past 11 years has worked as a child welfare social worker for the County of Sonoma. Jade is bilingual, working to improve her Spanish daily, and has dream of teaching self-defense in Spanish here in Sonoma County and the greater Bay Area as well as traveling to Spanish speaking countries to teach women's self-defense. 
   
   She currently lives in Windsor with her two children, Sophia, 16, and Mateo, 9.
9. REGULAR CALENDAR ITEMS
   
   1. Report on Administrative Responsibilities  

      Chair Almond spoke about the new procedure for requesting checks from the Accounts Payable Department. She also mentioned the storage unit issue of having the unit unlocked. Commissioner Blalock volunteered to type up instructions for opening and locking the unit in order to prevent this type of issue from happening again in the future.

   2. Social Media Procedures
      Commissioner Quinn went over the suggested policy for publishing and commenting on social media accounts owned by the Commission. The Commission suggested changing the order the policy was currently written in and suggested strengthening the language around political posts. 
      
      Motion to approve the social media policy as amended.
      
      Moved by: Commissioner Barrera
      Second: Commissioner Brown
      
      Ayes: 7      Noes: 0       Absent: 2      Abstained: 1
      
      Commissioners Diaz De Leon and Rogers were absent. Commissioner Almond abstained as Chair.
      
      The motion passed.
   3. League of Women Voters Commissioner Interview 
      Chair Almond read a message from Commissioner Rogers regarding her request for other commissioners to share ideas for discussion during her interview with the League of Women Voters including history of the commission.
   4. CSW Videos 
      Commissioner Quinn mentioned her idea about creating videos that would be shared on social media. Some of the shared ideas include videos about the commission, videos taken at CSW events and videos of things the junior commissioners are working on. She asked that commissioners send her ideas via email.
10. AD HOC COMMITTEE AND PROJECT COMMITTEE UPDATES
    Commissioners to provide reports and/or updates from the work being done by their ad hoc committee(s) and/or project committee(s).
    
    1. Empowerment Ad Hoc: Nothing to report.
    2. Marketing Ad Hoc: Reported working on promoting events and adding items to the website.
    3. Women’s Voices: Reported preparing the final details for the listening session scheduled in Cloverdale.
    4. Junior Commissioner Project Committee: The Junior Commissioners have been going over officer roles, meeting with their ad hocs, and playing activities to get to know each other.
11. COMMUNITY ISSUES, LIAISONS, AND COORDINATORS
    Commissioners to provide brief updates or ideas on the following:
    1. Association of California Commissions for Women (ACCW): Blalock reported the conference is going to be held in San Francisco and nothing has been cancelled so far.
    2. By-Law Review Group: The group will be meeting September 30^th
    3. Council on Aging: Nothing to report. 
    4. Field Trip Ideas: The idea of attending a “Girls on the Run” race was brought up and commissioners agreed it was a good idea.
    5. Human Trafficking Task Force: Blalock reported the group is working on the billboards and finding locations for the billboards.
    6. Legislative Advisory Group: Commissioner Brown mentioned SB 419 introduced by Senator Nancy Skinner regarding school suspensions. She suggested the commission support the bill and encourage the Governor to sign it.
    7. National Association of Commissions for Women (NACW): Blalock shared the NACW survey to other commissioners in the same area and the survey has received a lot of response.
    8. National Women’s History Alliance (NWHA): Blalock went over the calendar of events that is currently available.
    9. Sonoma County 2020 Centennial Coalition: Nothing was provided.
    10. Speaker Coordinator: Almond will have women veterans address the Commission in November.
    11. NOW 2020 Calendar “ad” Opportunity: Nothing was provided.
12. AGENDA ITEMS FOR NEXT COMMISSION MEETING
    
    • Commissioner Wood will be providing paperwork for the 4C’s event the Commission has been asked to support.
13. ADJOURNMENT
    The meeting was adjourned at 7:45PM