The Human Relations Commission (HRC) is seeking feedback from the City Council on their established strategic priorities for this year, 2017. 

 The Human Relations Commission (HRC) has undergone a couple of major transitions in the last several months, to include:

• Longtime Commissioners Hsu and Egipto were replaced by newly appointed Commissioners Summers and Richardson in August 2016.

• In January 2017, Commissioner Patino termed out of the Chair position and subsequently, Commissioner Richardson was elected to the Chair position.
• On March 1, 2017, longtime Commissioner Molinar resigned leaving a seat to be filled by an alternate commissioner.

The HRC currently has seven commissioners and one alternate commissioner, pending a replacement appointment proposed to be made by the Mayor and approved by the City Council on March 28, 2017.

Due to the shift in seats and positions, staff put together a strategic planning model for the HRC to undergo at their annual retreat this year. The goal of the model was to create a structured opportunity for the new commission to team build, renew their vision or sense of desired social impact and set focused priorities for 2017.

The retreat was held on February 11, 2017 and the outcome of the meeting is the HRC Strategic Plan presented in this report. The HRC Strategic Plan was approved by the HRC at their February 28^th regular meeting.

The strategic plan does not supplant the guidelines established in the Human Relations Commission section ( Chapter 2.24) of the Union City Municipal Code, which clearly dictates the HRC’s mission and duties (refer to Appendix A). The strategic plan is intended to augment the municipal code, and enhance the HRC’s mission as conveyed in the text.

HRC Chair Richardson and Vice Chair Molinar kicked-off the retreat with prepared opening statements to set the tone and emphasize their respective vision and priorities for the HRC.

The commissioners also took part in a meditation exercise and an icebreaker. The intent of these exercises was to foster relationship building, personal connections and to identify a common ground. 

HRC Chair Richardson next explained the need to develop an overarching strategic vision and set of clear values for HRC to create better focus, more discipline, and a stronger connection to the City Council in the interest of more effectively addressing community needs. He explained that the vision helps set the stage for a meaningful and organized action plan and adhering to a set of defined values will help the commission to stay on course through inevitable challenges.

Here is a synopsis of the strategic planning process:

SWOT

Before setting focused priorities for the year, the commissioners did a SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats) analysis to help them get an understanding of where the commission currently stands as it relates to their role in the community. According to Harvard Business Review, a SWOT analysis allows for an organization to understand both the external environment and its internal capabilities, which is crucial to informing goals and strategy and making the right business decisions.

Vision

The mission of the HRC stated in the municipal code clearly lays out its purpose, which allowed the commissioners to then set a forward-looking, aspirational vision that conveys their desired social impact on the community. The commissioners brainstormed twenty-three concepts, which was distilled into the following concise vision statement:

The Human Relations Commission creates a social environment in the community where there is awareness of our differences, respect for one another and unity around the preservation of an equal and diverse community.

Values

The establishment of values is important to help guide the commission in future decision making. When in doubt, the commission felt that they could turn to a set of established values to help them make a decision that best represents what is best for the community. Commissioners brainstormed twenty-eight values and ultimately, voted on six that best represent the commission. The values are:

Integrity, Unity, Leadership, Diversity, Transparency, Empathy

Top Three Community Priorities

The final leg of the retreat was when the commissioners took all of the feedback shared throughout the day to identify the three most important social issues in the community that needed attention. In total, eight focus areas were discussed, in which some overlapped or were aspects of a larger issues. A major part of the conversation was regarding the commissioners’ capabilities to create action and reach attainable goals in the focus areas. After much consideration, the following three focus areas were identified:

1. Preserve community diversity
2. Strengthen social services connection
3. Promote youth development and advocacy

Subcommittee Appointments

After the HRC approved the final strategic plan at the February 28^th regular meeting, commissioners were appointed to three separate subcommittees based on the “Big 3”. Each subcommittee will work to advise City Council on positive steps the City can take to work towards each objective. The HRC agenda is currently being updated in order to allow for subcommittee members to provide regular progress updates on these focus areas at each meeting.

Commissioners Patino and Summers were appointed to a subcommittee focused on preserving community diversity.

Chairperson Richardson and Commissioner Bhat were appointed to a subcommittee focused on strengthening social services in Union City.

Vice Chair Molinar (formerly on the commission) and Alternate Commissioner Kaffl were appointed to a subcommittee focused on promoting youth development and advocacy. However, since Vice Chair Molinar's resignation from the commission, the commission will be looking to appoint another commissioner on this subcommittee.

Commissioners Abanico and Wms-Smith and Alternate Commissioner Melanie Taplin have yet to be appointed to a subcommittee. 

While no major actions have been taken or planned for by any of the subcommittees yet, the commission will revise the current HRC agenda to allow for routine updates from each subcommittee at all meetings. This will ensure that the focus efforts remain consistent and progress is monitored over the course of the year. 

The subcommittee appointments will term out at the end of the year when the commission re-establishes a new set of priorities for 2018.

City Council Updates

HRC Commissioners will provide updates to City Council both formally and informally throughout the year on progress that is made in the focus areas. 

There is no fiscal impact.

The HRC and Staff recommend that City Council provide feedback on this report and the commission's strategic priorities for 2017.