Riko opened the meeting and welcomed everyone. She briefly discussed the World Day on the
Mall event and the Affirmative Action Awards Ceremony, commenting on the success of both. She
then turned the floor over to Charles.
Charles started by having each member introduce themselves to the group. After introductions,
Mahendra asked a question about whether the AA Committee meetings were open to the public. He
expressed concern that there were not public notices regarding the meeting, which he believed
was standard practice for any Governor-appointed committee. Mike McCrory stated he did not
believe the AA Committee meetings are excepted, as no policy decisions are made nor does the
Committee spend any public funds. Charles also mentioned that meetings are posted on the
DAS-State Personnel Affirmative Action website.
Charles then gave a report on World Day on the Mall. He said that the World Day budget had
doubled over the last two years because of grant funding by the Nebraska Humanities Council
(2004) and the Nebraska Arts Council (2005), as well as other private sponsorships. He then
said World Day had expanded its program to include presentations in addition to the usual
entertainment, information booths, and food vendors. The presentations were developed to
increase the number of participants from State agencies and to provide information to
employees and the general public. Presentations from the last World Day included:
- Cultures in our Community: African Drumming
and Dance
Jose Soto - What is Diversity?
Mary O’Boyle - Cultures in our Community: An Irish Immigrant’s Story
Owen Patton - Cultures in our Community: The Lakota Culture
Charles then mentioned the World Day on the
Mall website, which is available for viewing at any time, and then showed a seven-minute
video presentation of World Day on the Mall. The video is used for fundraising and
information for anyone who wishes to view it and is available on the World Day website.
Charles then discussed the code agencies annual plans. Many were submitted and several have
not been. Those agencies who have not submitted plans are working on them and are in contact
with Charles. Charles stated that the plans overall were encouraging, but that there were
still areas needing to be addressed. Charles mentioned that some agencies are trying to work
on their underrepresented areas but that they were having trouble finding qualified
applicants, particularly in specialized positions. Charles then showed a spreadsheet of some
salary data regarding positions within the various code agencies and discussed possible
disparities. Charles asked the group if this information was helpful and if there would be
some different projections they would like to see. The group suggested presenting the
information broken down by agency. Charles said he would provide this at the next meeting.
Charles then discussed past Affirmative Action Committee initiatives. He used data to
highlight two examples of initiatives discussed in earlier meetings dating back to 2000. In
2000, the AA Committee met with agency directors and discussed their Affirmative Action
policies and plans. One example of an initiative was the Department of Labor; DOL stated they
needed to increase representation of Hispanics in their professional categories and then
outlined possible strategies to attain that goal. The data from 2005 shows that DOL’s
efforts were successful. Charles then used and example from the Crime Commission - in which
they identified they needed to increase minority representation in their agency overall. The
data from 2005 demonstrated the Crime Commission was unsuccessful in that effort. Riko
mentioned a document from 1997 - the 1997 State Government AA and Diversity Plan and
asked if anyone in the group still had that document. No one did. Charles then said he’d
done some initial checking and that he would continue to search for it so that the group
could review it at the next meeting.
Charles then presented the proposed AA Committee meeting times for 2006 and asked if there
were any objections. The times are:
- January 18, 2006
- April 5, 2006
- June 28, 2006
- October 18, 2006
No one had any objections and the times were approved.
No one had any other new business and the meeting was adjourned and the next meeting time set
for 2:00 p.m., January 18, 2006 to be held in the DAS-State Personnel Large Conference Room.
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