HRC prepares to welcome 3 new commissioners

Presenter: The human rights commissioners share announcements at the start of their June 16 meeting, and prepare to welcome three new members. Chair of the Human Rights Commission, Kianna Cabuco:

Kianna Cabuco (Human Rights Commission, chair): Okay. HRC and Commissioner updates. Does anyone have something they would like to share? Commissioner Murthy: 

Human Rights Commissioner Vanitha Murthy: I would like to share something. The city of Eugene organized an affordable housing home tour on June 11. It involved looking at the types of homes that Eugene wants to build in the next 20 years. So the planning department had organized a tour for BIPOC folks.

I got this invitation to the University of Oregon. It was very informative: meeting the urban planner; learned about the city’s plans to expand affordable housing access. And I would wish there were more such events that could engage people to express their understanding of what the future would look like in 20 years.

So, A+,  good job, Eugene’s Planning Department…  There is sort of like a follow-up to that event and there’s a planning newsletter. And if there is interest in weighing in on urban growth strategies work, there’s a milestone coming up on June 23 at 5:30 p.m. 

The Eugene Planning Commission will host a public hearing on an exciting set of land use updates aimed at expanding housing and job opportunities citywide.

And also, the first group of actions for City Council consideration is primarily a series of changes to Eugene’s land use code to help address some of the city’s housing and job needs. Thank you.

Presenter: Commissioner Tria Ward:

Tria Ward (Human Rights Commission): I’ll just mention briefly that I attended the Youth Pride event, the 4J Youth Pride event. Wow. I was blown away. I was impressed. It was a beautiful event. It was large. 

It seemed very well attended. It just seemed like there was a lot of community love there. There were a lot of organizations that were present.

I caught myself, the whole time, thinking, you know, where was this kind of event when I was a kid? Or when I was a teenager with a lot of questions and not a lot of community to lean on. 

But I can’t tell you how honored and proud I am that we contributed to that and that, you know, we supported that, we supported Queer Eugene in putting that on. It was really a truly, truly beautiful thing. So thank you.

Kianna Cabuco (Human Rights Commission, chair): That sounds amazing. I’m glad that that is something that our community does have. Melissa.

Presenter: Eugene’s multicultural liaison, Melissa Cariño:

Melissa Cariño (Eugene, multicultural liaison): I just wanted to add, Commissioner Ward, thank you, Commissioner Ward for attending. 

Tria Ward (Human Rights Commission): Yeah, like I say, it was my honor. It was beautiful. 

Kianna Cabuco (Human Rights Commission, chair): Any other shareouts? 

I do have one as well. I’ve been working with the Lane County Health Care Sector Partnership… Advocacy Committee, so we’ve been connecting with legislators and the Oregon Medical Association to talk about the effects that are going to really start rolling out at the beginning of next year.

A lot of the impact is going to be from HR 1, and I believe there’s over $400 million in cuts to be made. And I recently learned that that’s not even talking about like the (state) biennium budget cuts, which is going to be crazy.

And so looking at how we can support individuals who are going to be affected by this, and processes, and what providers are going to have to use for codes in order for people to get care.

So if anyone is interested in also sharing their voice or learning more about that: We do have a little bit of a bigger convening at the beginning of August that we’re also inviting a lot of local legislators to—which we’re very lucky that they’re very healthcare-forward.

And it is an ongoing committee that meets once a month, although we are taking a little break in July and August since it is hard to collaborate over summertime with people.

But I’d be happy to put anyone in connection with that. And I think it is going to be a huge collaborative, collective effort to make sure no one’s falling through and everyone can get the care that they need. 

All right. If there are no other updates or share-outs, I believe Counselor Yeh, you are up.

Presenter: Eugene City Councilor Jennifer Yeh:

Councilor Jennifer Yeh: Yeah, I don’t have a ton to share, but I did want everyone to know that we appointed board and commissioners, new appointees on the 8th of June, so at the beginning of this month. And so folks will be on board, they get some training and, you know, get a little chance to get ready.

Presenter: Here are the three new members, with their statements to the City Council April 13: 

Leon Bote: My name is Leon Bote. I’m a resident of Eugene since July last year. 

I’m an incoming graduate student in prevention science at University of Oregon, and I am an active advocate for greater accessibility and independence everywhere for people with disabilities. 

I’m here today because accessibility is a human right. Here in Eugene, I appreciate that there’s been talk about the values of inclusion, but for neighbors with disabilities, those values are only as solid as the pavement beneath them.

Since arriving in this beautiful city, as I have navigated our community with my husband, who is a full-time power wheelchair user and also a mental health counselor here in Eugene, we have frequently encountered sidewalks with streaks and splashes of bright yellow paint.

Reading about Eugene’s sidewalk repair pilot that was apparently launched last year confirmed what I had assumed—that the paint marks vertical offsets and defects that are deemed dangerous.

I think it’s great that the city has been trying to do something about this, but awareness is not access.

The yellow paint tells us that the city is aware of the hazard and it tells us your intentions. Absolutely. And I think that’s great, but the paint doesn’t fix the concrete. And it seems that the aforementioned pilot program is still not quite reaching enough property owners.

And when we mark a barrier, but we don’t enforce its removal, we’re essentially prioritizing liability over lived reality. Again, awareness is not access.

Beyond cracks and heaves in the sidewalks, we’ve also encountered curb cuts too steep to climb safely up and down from the street, and parking lot aprons so steep, they scrape the undercarriage of our wheelchair-accessible van (those are very expensive).

They’re there. These aren’t just inconveniences, they’re barriers to participation in public life for people with disabilities especially.

I recognize the pressure points our leadership faces. I know the primary burden of sidewalk maintenance rests on property owners. I also acknowledge the work being done through the city’s ADA transition plan, which I can tell has made a lot of headway in making Eugene more accessible over the past decade.

However, we need a concerted effort of collaboration between our commissions. 

As a member of the Human Rights Commission, I would want to be a resource for these solutions, possibly, for instance, by identifying accessibility grants.

Sara Connors: Hello. My name is Sara Connors. I’ve been a middle school teacher for the last 12 years. I currently teach at Cal Young Middle School. I teach technology classes to sixth, seventh, and eighth grade students. 

I also serve on the equity and inclusion team and multi-tiered systems of support team where we strategize to serve our hardest to reach students.

In college, I was a nontraditional student who returned to college after being in the workforce. I was a single parent. I lived in haka housing. I survived because of our safety net, and it’s what allowed me to graduate and become a teacher. I am grateful that we have such safety nets to help people who are struggling.

I applied to be on this commission because I see that human rights are currently under attack. I have many trans people in my life, both in my personal life and in my classrooms. I see what is happening in other states, and I am concerned that it might come here as well. I also see that other groups are under attack as well.

If you are queer, if you are any color but white, if you don’t fit into a particular mold, then you may soon be targeted. I recently had a good friend and her husband immigrate to Nova Scotia because they worry that the climate here is becoming unsafe for them. And I hate to say it, but I understand and I agree with them, that leaving while they can may be the best possible choice.

I worry about my students. I worry when students and parents skip school-sponsored activities because they’re concerned that they might be targeted by ICE. I worry when my school shares their ICE action plan, and it relies on people playing by the rules. I wonder what will happen when a situation arises where not everyone plays by the rules.

How will we keep our children safe, and how will we continue to provide them with an education? Education is the great equalizer. Education is what allowed me to go from a struggling single parent, living in government housing to an educator who lives and participates in our community. The American activist Jane Addams said, ‘The good we secure for ourselves is precarious and uncertain until it is secured for all of us and incorporated into our common life.’

I believe this, and that is why I want to join the Commission. I want the good that I have in my life to be secured and available to everyone else in our community, and I want it to be protected for everyone.

I believe the Commission will benefit from having people on it who are embedded in the community, people who work with kids, their families, and have a deep belief in equity and the right of everyone to feel so safe and welcome in this community.

I love Eugene. So, that’s what I offer and I would be honored to bring it to this work. Thank you. 

Mahindra Kumar: My name is Mahindra Kumar. I’m finishing up a PhD in sociology at the UO, where my research has focused on mobile crisis response, the experiences of homeless services workers, and what I have come to consider broadly the experiences of the helpers.

I’m twice an immigrant. My parents, were economic migrants from India. Moving from Kuwait where I was born and I later came to the U.S. when I was eight years old, the first Memorial Day weekend after 9/11, where my mom later as the breadwinner of the family, worked nights as a nurse to support us.

This kind of led to the situation where I came to be impacted by the justice system at a young age causing me to drop out of high school and intermittently spend time at various youth facilities. This lived experience greatly impacted my career and dedication to service in various social work roles where I supported people who had similar struggles. 

I came here about six years ago. My pathway here to study the experiences of social workers, the experiences of those on the frontline and those at the administrative level, it really began when I started working with adults with disabilities.

And then when I worked in group homes. And then later on as a case manager at a transitional housing program where I saw those same kids who were aging out of the group home, I realized that no matter how much my efforts, no matter what I could do, there was a common throughline and that was a lack of affordable housing. I didn’t have a house in my toolkit. 

Later on during my time as a graduate student and a tenant support specialist, in the Springfield Eugene Tenant Association, I considered some of the unique aspects of what Eugene was going through in its rapid transition during the pandemic.

Even my own students, housing insecurity seems to be a common thread. The brutality of poverty, making it hard to do so many other things.

And so with regards to my role with Neighbors Feeding Neighbors, it’s something that we see as a common throughline in the work that we’re doing—a lot of people that are showing up to the line are housed. A lot of them are living at Dusk to Dawn.

I want to say here that in 2025, we served over 51,000 meals on 217 service days. That represents a 35% increase over the 38,000 meals served over the 212 days in 2024. 

In February itself, we served 3,800 meals on 17 service days, including the President’s Day holiday. Again, another 35% increase over the 2,800 meals served in February of last year.

These activities mean more than feeding people. Their central location in the downtown core, which has long been home to many unhoused neighbors, it’s allowed other providers of mutual aid, mainly in the name of medical care, to join them and function as a public health node—during a time of dysfunction, right?

We don’t have an emergency room in the city of Eugene anymore. In February, Occupy Medical held two medical clinics. We organized pre-med students to do blood pressure checks. ISCE provided hygiene items, other groups held medical clinics, providing Narcan and other useful items. We’re providing clothing and other food pantry items.

All this is to say that during a time when social service institutions are experiencing austerity, severed funding, groups like these are a Band-Aid, but they are on the front lines of a lot of these acute needs of people in the present suffering on the streets of Eugene.

I think the commission would benefit from some more representation from the front line of those who are witness to these happenings on the streets and voice the concerns of the helpers to a broader governing body.

Thank you.

Presenter: Eugene’s Human Rights Commission will welcome three new members, as commissioners praise the city’s Planning Department, praise the 4J Pride event, and prepare to deal with cuts from the so-called ‘big, beautiful bill’ slated to go into effect after the midterm elections.