Community Relations Commission

1 Minutes of a Meeting of the 2 Northbrook Community Relations Commission 3 Asian American Heritage Subcommittee 4 Wednesday, May 13, 2015 5 6 7 Present: Chair Ray Wehr, Subcommittee Members Jasmine Lee, Dan Moy, 8 Howard Schultz, Misty Vinson-Spitzer and Cathie Winnie 9 10 Guests: None. 11 12 Absent: James Hyun, Bob Lozaro & Reemlee Chowdhury 13 14 Others: Staff Liaison Mike Strong 15 16 Call to Order & Welcome 17 Chair Ray Wehr called the meeting to order at 5:30 p.m. in the conference room of the 18 North Suburban YMCA at 2705 Techny Road in Northbrook. 19 20 Hear from the Audience 21 None. 22 23 General Recap from the 2015 Event 24 Member Cathie Winnie stated that everything went well in the arts and crafts area; there 25 were lots of children and adults who participated in the area. She stated that most 26 activities were well-received by those who attended and participated. 27 28 Member Schultz stated that not as many people were walking around and that the food 29 was great; however, lots of left overs. 30 31 Member Moy recommended that the subcommittee look into more Chinese vendors for 32 next year’s event. 33 34 Chair Wehr recommended that we purchase food in the future, seemed to work out well 35 with the volunteers we had. He stated that the Commission could purchase food if 36 vendors are unwilling to commit. 37 38 Member Winnie stated that perhaps food vendors could walk around with food to sell; 39 that way people may be more interested in purchasing it next year. 40 41 Recap on Entertainment from the 2015 Event 42 Member Lee provided a general recap on the entertainment from the event. She stated 43 that the Korean drummers were really good and got a lot of positive feedback. She stated 44 that the taekwondo was really good, and that they have already requested to be invited 45 back next year. Member Lee had the following comments: 46  Minutes of a Meeting of the Asian American Heritage Subcommittee May 13, 2015 47  Chicago ADAA was great, and we need to expand their presence next year. 48 Perhaps the subcommittee can invite more members from their organization. 49  Ryan Shi was a really good addition this year, and that we should try to get him 50 back for the event again. 51  SamaSama did a good job of containing to the time slot we provided them. 52 53 General discussion took place concerning the acts that participated and which ones the 54 subcommittee would like back next year. 55 56 Member Lozaro, via email correspondence, requested that Staff Liaison Strong make his 57 comments a part of the record; which include: 58  Performers were entertaining 59  Food was good and varied 60  Working with the Y gets better each year as we become familiar with needs 61  Location is good 62  Parking was adequate 63  Use of police for traffic control was a plus 64  MC Wileen was amazing as our MC 65  Plenty of volunteer help 66  Good response by CRC members 67 68 Member Lozaro also stated in his email, that the following items where his expressed 69 concerns: 70  No CRC Commissioner stepped up to take charge of event 71  Not sure how event would have turned out if not for Jasmine Lee’s involvement 72  Majority of attendees appeared to be relatives of performers. This has been a 73 theme in past years and apparent by the low number of attendees near the end of 74 the program when older entertainers were performing. It is my understanding we 75 are trying to educate non-Asians about Asian culture. However, community 76 turnout appears to be low. 77  Events in ABC room had low response 78  No Henna, which, in the past, was very popular 79 80 Member Schultz stated it would be a good idea to conduct a survey asking about the 81 entertainment piece, and other areas of the event that we scaled back on. He stated that it 82 might be important to know if they missed anything that we didn’t provide this year. 83 84 Member Lee stated that we should incorporate the raffle prizes into the brochure for next 85 year so that patrons will know what they are and may stick around to see if they’ve won. 86 87 Member Lee recommended that we reach out to a henna vendor for next year, as it 88 seemed that could have added some more excitement. 89 90 Member Lee recommended that the first floor dressing rooms not be used, as it was 91 difficult to run up and down the stairs to gather acts and keep them on schedule. 2  Minutes of a Meeting of the Asian American Heritage Subcommittee May 13, 2015 92 93 Old Business 94 None. 95 96 New Business 97 The 2016 event has been scheduled for May 1, 2016, and more information will be 98 presented later this fall during a Community Relations Commission meeting. 99 100 Scheduling of Next Meeting 101 None. 102 103 Adjournment 104 A motion was made by Member Lee, seconded by Member Winnie, to adjourn the 105 meeting at 6:25 p.m. On a voice vote, the motion carried unanimously. 106 107 Respectfully submitted, 108 109 Michael Strong 110 Staff Liaison 3