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?