- Good evening, everybody, and welcome to our regularly scheduled program as we've returned to our regularly
- scheduled program. My name is Susan Hingwell. This is the Monroe County Women's Commission. It is April
- 16th. I'm on vacation this week. It is April 16th at 5.30-something PM.
- I will call us to order. The commission shall serve in an advisory role to assist residents, businesses,
- and the government of Monroe County in addressing issues of gender equity. The mission is to advance
- the status of women and marginalized genders in all areas of county life. I know for approval of minutes, I know
- Maria? Okay, perfect. Okay. So with the updates, do I have a motion to approve the minutes for a March's
- meeting? Yes, I move to approve the March minutes with the edits from Maria. I second. I have a motion
- to approve the minutes from March with the most recent updates.
- Aye. And when Maria is on, we will do a different roll call. So I did change, because I said last time
- I was going to put myself last, because I never remember right off the bat. So we're going to do commissioner
- updates. Commissioner Otto, do you have any updates? I know, sorry. How about Belton? We'll go to Belton.
- Do you have any updates you'd like to share? Yeah, I don't remember. We had talked about making bags
- with feminine products that went out to go with not more and passed out several to the way.
- the name of the place on Rogers to the left. As the old BCC. Oh, oh my gosh, BCC. Yes. Left hand side
- across the street from church. There was a few ladies there. I still have some more sooner products
- to pass out and we'll get together and work on it again.
- Any updates you would like to share right now? Coming back, any updates you would like to share? I have
- something that I would like to share. All righty then. But I wasn't sure if other people had anything
- on this because it is sexual assault awareness month in April. So I just have a little thing that I
- would like to read on that.
- In recognition of Sexual Assault Awareness Month, I want to share just a brief data-driven snapshot
- of where the country stands today and what these trends mean for women and families in Indiana. The
- most recent federal data show that sexual violence remains a widespread public health issue.
- CDC's 23 to 24 national intimate partner in sexual violence survey, which surveyed more than 15,000
- adults, confirmed that women continue to experience sexual violence at a significantly higher rate than
- men. The cycle also includes technology-facilitated abuse, reflecting the growing role of digital platforms
- in harassment and coercion. Being a criminal justice major.
- the data tell a similar story. In the fiscal year 2024, more than 1,400 individuals were sentenced for
- federal sexual abuse offenses, a 62% increase since 2020. I'm sorry, how many? What was it?
- What was it? Increase? 62% since 2020. Thank you. Over 93% of the offenders were men, and nearly all
- received prison sentences. While federal cases represent only a fraction of total assaults, they highlight
- persistent gender
- patterns in offending. The National Crime Victimization Survey adds important context. In 2024, the
- rate of victimization was more than 23 incidents per thousand people age 12 or older, with youth experiencing
- the highest rates. Only a small portion of these incidents were reported to law enforcement, underscoring
- the ongoing barriers survivors face when seeking help. The 2025 analysis of national crime data identified
- more than 2,000 sex offenses
- reported in a single year. I'm sorry, 200,000 reported in a single year, roughly one every two and a
- half minutes. Nearly all of the victims were between the ages of 11 and 20, which aligns with what we
- see in college communities here in Indiana. Although updated state level data are still being finalized,
- Indiana's patterns mirror national trends. Young women, especially those ages 18 to 24, remain at the
- highest risk for acquaintance assault.
- Rural counties also face challenges such as limited access to trained nurses and fewer trauma informed
- reporting options. So as a commission we have an opportunity to strengthen prevention programming support
- trauma informed reporting pathways and advocate for improved data collection across the state. And I
- believe we have been doing that with grounding our work in evidence and centering around survivors.
- And we can continue to build a safer and more equitable Monroe County.
- On those lines, I also wanted to say Monroe County now on Monday, April 21st. This upcoming Monday is
- hosting a watch party and discussion, a documentary exploring sexual assault on college campuses, and
- that is at the Southwest Library, meeting room B from 5 p.m. to 6.45.
- Do you have any updates you'd like to share? No, I don't have any. I don't think so. I don't think I
- have any updates. I'm just contemplating our commission and the meeting situation from last month and
- the fact that we don't have our commissioner or counselor representatives at this meeting this month
- and watching what happens with that in the upcoming meetings.
- Jody sent out notice saying that she was out of town and I don't remember hearing from Liz. We did hear
- from Liz. She said that she has the history. Some other board that she's on was a conflict for today.
- I've asked if that's going to be a regular thing. So if this Thursday meeting with us no longer works
- for her schedule, because it's not clear if that was just a one time meeting or if this is the, yeah,
- a schedule change. Yeah, I don't know. Yeah. Yeah, I don't know. We are officially have been announced.
- for the rest of the year. So that's good. That's my update. If people are talking, I need you to like
- get right on the microphone because I'm not hearing. Yeah, they're new mics and they're shorter and
- they're I'm not sure how they're picking up. Yeah, just pull the thing closer to you.
- Thank you. Commissioner Douglas, do you have any updates you would like to share? Yeah, I'm surprised
- that Julie didn't share that we had the first meeting of the Freedom School Steering Committee. Julie
- and I are co-chairing that together at the moment. How many people do we have? We had we had eight of us.
- And so there's room still for more. I'm just interim co-chair until somebody else steps up, but we had
- our first meeting, so that was exciting. I also wanted to share that I attended the MCCS, the Advisory Council,
- community council situation last night. It was a gathering of, I'm not good at like saying how many
- people are there, but just from all walks of life in terms of parents, in terms of people from the business
- community, the nonprofit community, et cetera. And MCCSE is convening to have,
- conversations. Last night we just did a lot of introduction about the purpose and such so I'll probably
- be reporting out on that. My last thing is that I received another email from a concerned community
- member and I would like to read it at this time. So it says Dear Commissioner
- there's such feedback right now. So dear Commissioner Maria Douglas, we have corresponded briefly by
- email before. I have watched the Women's Commission meetings on television and I always appreciate your
- knowledge, advocacy and insight regarding inclusion and equity. I want to let you know how sorry I was
- to hear about your commission's lack of access to your meeting room last month. I have to say in this
- climate that invisibility equals intentionality.
- As an African-American woman myself, there have been too many incidents that I have experienced where
- a denial of humanity dictates how we are negatively perceived, treated, and devalued. It was not only
- disheartening to hear about the incident, but also about the lack of accountability and responsibility
- to make a group whole and supported.
- Please know that I stand in support and solidarity with you and the ideals that your commission diligently
- upholds. I may not be physically present at meetings, but I am attentive and actively engaged in social
- justice and in my everyday life. Please take good care and know that you're not alone. With warm regards,
- this concerned community member, which I am choosing to,
- their permission to share this and choosing to keep their name anonymous. That was very lovely. Thank
- you for sharing that. Agreed. Do you have anything else you would like to share, Commissioner Douglas?
- No, thank you.
- As for me, I did update just some housekeeping on the newest agenda. I verified that those were the
- correct dates. They have been updated on the website, I think, or they were sent in for you.
- And who else? It's Maria, right, our council? You, Julie. Yeah, Maria, our council. Yeah, those have
- been updated on our agenda and on, I believe, the website.
- Already I did follow up with the other Commissioners who are appointed by the Commissioner's office.
- I think that's Commissioner Belton Otto and myself and They have not been We have not been officially
- reappointed yet. They were waiting On our response for the 501 c3, which I've actively
- said that we were not moving forward with that at this time. And so that our reappointment should be
- coming soon. Also, make sure everyone goes in votes, by the way, in our primary election. I did find
- out today that I think it was four people in my township have voted so far.
- out of 5,000. That might be correct, which I know one of those is me, because I have not voted yet.
- So please make sure you get out and vote. I believe this is, as they all are, very important elections.
- Early voting is happening at North Showers next to City Hall, Monday through Friday, right? It's not
- on the weekends.
- but it's Monday through Friday, and I think like 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. I think so. I think that's right.
- It is. I think that's all I have. I'm sure. I haven't heard about being reappointed. Were they supposed
- to send me something? I don't know.
- Did I miss something? Oh, you're counseled. Oh, you were on there, too, then. Yes, you've been reappointed.
- So it is Eroge and Douglas, right, that are by counsel? Yes, you have all been reappointed. Correct?
- Yes. Was I supposed to receive something? Did you?
- I don't know that I actually received something, but I believe there was a meeting in January where
- they made those decisions. I don't recall if I actually received an email this time about reappointment.
- I was just making sure I didn't miss something. Let me make sure that you were on that email.
- It is just you two. Maria was already good till next year. OK, sorry. I had that backwards. So it's
- Hardesty and Roger that have been reappointed till 28. Maria's term doesn't end till 2027. OK, sorry.
- Thank you. I knew there was only two, but I had it wrong. Let's move on to old and ongoing business.
- I don't even. Are we sorry? I don't have my most recent agenda on me. Um. The policy subcommittee. Or
- committee with commissioners. Hardesty Douglas and your own. Would you guys like to provide an update?
- Sure. I haven't we haven't had a meeting real recently. We're
- But we have talked over email about things for this year and prioritizing, and I think our top thing
- is following up on the gender equity rubric with the board of commissioners and hopefully Jodi in particular
- to see how
- how the gender equity rubric can be used and getting it shared online and figuring out if there's a
- way for us to get feedback if anyone makes use of it. Then we are also looking, the next thing we're
- looking at is scheduling, amplifying, hosting constitutional observer know your rights trainings. So
- some of those have already been happening in the area and if there are more
- Or if there are more that we can put together and host, that would be something that we're interested
- in. We still want to watch what's happening with the new jail. And now that there's an extension until
- the end of May on the lawsuit moving forward. So we'll see what is happening with that. And we're wanting
- to watch that from a policy standpoint.
- see if there's anything that we need to be bringing up with the commissioners or council, the board
- of commissioners. And then we also talked about this is actually moved on I think beyond
- potentially what we what we were contemplating but the affordable housing solution for tenants of the
- county is possibly displacing for the convention hotel. I believe that displacement is is active and
- is going to be happening. So I'm not sure if there's much that we are able to do at this point in terms
- of advising the commissioners or offering anything but I think next week when we talk that might be
- that might actually be something we want to bump up and talk about first.
- And then we are still interested in working on data visualization for the status of women and marginalized
- genders in Monroe County based on data from the data subcommittee or also the preliminary data that
- was gathered last year that we have available as well. So kind of setting goals for the year
- and contemplating that and hoping to dig in starting next week. So is there anything that you have Maria?
- No, thank you so much. And thank you so much for your leadership. Any questions? Comments? Concerns?
- There's concerns, I'm sure. Oh, no. No, you guys are very productive. Yeah, with this work. Tell me
- about your productivity. Well, we have ideas. We'll put it that way. That's great.
- I have no updates, but it was on my agenda to work on that this week. Well, I have off and the week
- is not over yet. So yeah. Commissioner Douglas, do you have anything you'd like to add?