Dual State Civil Rights Committee

Massachusetts & Rhode Island
Wednesday, September 6, 2006
Purgatory Chasm State Reservation, MA

Present: Louise Legouis, Chairperson; Roylene Rides at the Door, RI STC; Cecil
Currin, MA STC: Mark Zinan, Advisor; Bill Taylor, BEPM; Karen Regish FWPM;
Massachusetts; Reena Shaw, member; Peter Bonome, HEPM; Jeanne Comerford,
AA/PIPM; Melissa Boak, Advisor.

The meeting opened at 9:30.

Louise introduced herself as the new Civil Rights Committee (CRC) chair. Louise is
looking forward to her new duties and has a lot of background in organizing events.

OLD BUSINESS

Civil Rights Training - Mark has requested through NEDS that Civil Rights Compliance
in Program Delivery be taught in Central Massachusetts. There is a lot interest from New
England and New York. Role and Responsibilities of the EEO Committee will be taught
in Indianapolis, Indiana the week of December 6th, 2006. It will be taught in conjunction
the NRCS Professional Meeting of Black Employees and Program Managers.
Massachusetts Training Needs Inventory sheets are due in to the Training Officer on
September 15th. Terry Colby will input approved TNI requests into AgLearn upon receipt
from MA and RI training officers. This item is closed.

Statewide Lists of Minority and Small Businesses – Nobody was quite sure where to
obtain a list of all minority and small businesses in Massachusetts and Rhode Island and
whether it would be worth the work effort to obtain the list and then the Contracting
Officer would have to determine what to do with such a list. All contracting request for
proposals are place on FedBizOps. 99% of businesses are aware of FedBizOps, it is the
Government’s only web tool for publicizing contractual actions. Mark also attends Small
Business Conferences and hands out NRCS literature and e-mail addresses. This item is
closed.

Outreach – Jeanne Comerford stated that she would provide Diane Petit and Mark an
electronic copy of the RI outreach form and also the RI partnership report. The regional
quarterly outreach report is no longer required. Additional outreach training will be provided to those attending the Civil Rights Compliance in Program Delivery course provided the request for a regional session is approved. This item is still open.

NEW BUSINESS

Web Site Update – Louise stated that the CR website needed to be more interesting, informative,
and user friendly. The committee agreed. She handed copies of other state NRCS CR web sites.
Oregon’s seemed to be the best. We need to add policy statements, minutes, posters, calendar of
events and links to SEPs. Louise stated she will work with Diane and Michelle in order to
improve the web site. SEPM will present their ideas for the contents of links to each program
area at the next CRC meeting. Melissa will prepare a list of potential documents for download to
review at the next CRC meeting.

SEPM Updates - Peter Bonome, HEPM, stated that he met with 14 potential Hispanic job
applicants, both student and current employees, at the National Employee Conference. One
student expressed a very strong interest in working in the Northeast and he has the resumes of 2
other potential candidates. Peter also forwarded MA and RI NRCS job announcements to URI
and UMASS, to other HEPMS, and to multi state Hispanic job boards. Student intern information
was forwarded to Hispanic student associations. He is also working on education materials for
Hispanic Heritage Month and will provide the materials to NRCS.

Action Item: Peter proposed and the committee accepted an Action Item that Human Resources
prepare Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities (KSA) training sessions for NRCS employees and
university students or student career service advisors. As a caveat, Mark adds that he wants the
class limited to one day as Melissa and Kathy are fully engaged and their time availability is
limited. Also, KSAs require technical experts and not just HR personnel. Melissa would like to
bring in outside help, however, our funding is limited on the Committee. Due Date: Spring 2007.

Jeanne Comerford and Roylene Rides at the Door discussed the August 2006, joint American
Indian Alaska Native Asian Pacific Islander Employee Association conference held in
Anchorage, AK.

Jeanne emphasized the superb training and the educational awareness and Roylene emphasized
the importance of Networking, Traditions shared, and cultural mixing.

Due to the large amount of information provided by Roylene and Jeanne, I am attaching the entire
minutes from the conference.

Roylene also discussed the need for MA/RI to do small scale diversity training such as 2 hour
training luncheons. Roylene talked about her speaking to Florida NRCS at their Woman’s
Equality Luncheon to celebrate Woman’s Right to Vote date. We are an Agency of People and
not just work and computers.

Cecil and Roylene both agreed to provide $1,500 each to the FY 07 CRC budget in order to
sponsor these types of activities. The $1,500 is above and beyond the money typically provided
for the bi state Diversity Day.

Bill Taylor, BEPM, is anticipating attending the Black Professional Employees meeting in
December 2006.

Karen Regish, the new FWPM, participated in a FWPM telecom and gathered a lot of
information on woman’s issues specifically Health, , and Stress Prevention. She also wants to
emphasize Bring Your Son/Daughter to Work Day. Karen is hopeful that funding will be
available to allow her to attend the next national meeting.

Diversity Day

Louise suggested brainstorming ideas for Diversity Day which is tentatively scheduled for
October 2007.

Some of the topics and speakers ideas generated included:

1. Conservation across Cultures.
2. Bring in Father Oleska from AK, he spoke at the AI/AN/AP conference. He was
excellent.
3. New England historical and regional perspectives on civil rights. .
4. Ethnobotany The uses of plants in different cultures.
5. Cooking Demonstrations.
6. Blackstone River Underground Railroad tour.
7. Workshops to raise awareness of differences and improve communications across:

a. Gender
b. Cultures
c. Age
d. Ethnic background and
e. Disability

Possible locations were discussed and a budget proposal will be presented at the next CRC
meeting.

Cecil Currin retirement

The committee wished Cecil Currin a grand retirement and thanked him for all his dedicated work
with NRCS/partners and in enhancing Civil Rights within the agency. Cecil stated that his
proudest NRCS moment was in helping to establish the National Employee Organizations when
everybody said that it couldn’t or shouldn’t be done. Good luck Cecil, you will be greatly
missed.

The next Committee meeting will be held on November 29th.at 9:30 at Purgatory Chasm.
Meeting adjourned at 11:45.

/Recorder/
MARK ZINAN
Advisor

/Approver/
LOUISE LEGOUIS
Chairperson Page Content

Last Modified: 04/16/2007

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