You shouldn't have to do anything on that. >> Well, good evening everyone. Thank you for coming to the Chaska Human Rights Commission meeting for Thursday, May 28th, 2026. Um first up on our agenda this evening is our roll call. So, Elise, will you do roll call for us? >> Commissioner Miklousky? >> Present. >> Commissioner Duffy? Commissioner Carlson? >> Here. >> Commissioner Honan? Commissioner Mee? >> Here. >> Commissioner Haga? >> Here. >> Commissioner Sanderson? >> Present. >> Chair Hubbard? >> Okay. So, we have an agenda that was sent out to us last week. Um are there any uh changes, additions, deletions for our agenda? Having heard none, uh may I have a motion to adopt the agenda? >> So moved. >> And seconded. >> Motion made by Honan, seconded by Kevin. Thank you so much. Is there any discussion? Having heard none, all in favor signify by saying I. >> I. >> Oppose? Eyes carry. Well, we're really excited tonight because Mental Health Month has been observed for in the month of May in the United States since 1949. And for the Human Rights Commission, it's especially our chance to stand with our community and show them that no one struggles alone. That's why we've invited Matthew to be with us tonight um to talk about an organization that he started called Slam the Stigma. I read some interesting statistics today. Mental health that includes anxiety and depression affects over 32% of our teens and adolescents. That's pretty significant. Having a meaningful connection and tools to move forward is part of the healing that I think Matthew's organization brings. And we're glad that you're with us tonight. So, I'll turn it over to you, Matthew. >> Perfect. Thank you. Uh again, I'm Matthew Shrode. I'm the founder and uh executive director of Slam the Stigma. We are a new nonprofit for youth mental health focusing on high school teens. Uh we've been around about a year now. Uh just over a year is in March. Um you can go ahead. Um when [clears throat] we talk about mental health I kind of like to start with having a little bit of uh a definition so everyone kind of is on the same page. Um and I have it listed up there. It's a state of well-being in which the individual realizes his or her own abilities, can cope with the normal stresses of life, can work productively and fruitfully, and then the part that I really like to focus on is and is able to be make a contribution to community. Uh at Slam the Stigma one of our biggest pieces that we focus on is building that community um especially around people because when you're dealing with depression, anxiety, and other mental health issues, um one of the biggest struggles is a feeling of isolation and being alone. Uh and we're trying to to break that stigma. Uh if you go ahead. Uh a couple other interesting statistics for you. Um >> [clears throat] >> the one that really stands out to me is 22% of high school students have seriously considered attempting suicide. Um that's almost a whole grade level. When you look at 9 through 12, like that's a whole grade level. Um and for me that's just absolutely heartbreaking. Um and then when you go in and look at 67% of young adults with mental health systems mental health symptoms do not receive care. Uh there's a lot of reasons for that between um cost barriers, just having access, finding a therapist can be difficult especially nowadays. Um there's so much demand that it's hard to get into therapy. Um and so those are some of the things we're trying to help eliminate some of those barriers to give them some kind of access to mental health support. Um I always like to start with telling my and sharing my story. I think it's very important. Um I grew up in Iowa. Don't hold that against me. Um [laughter] Uh what you would call a a quote-unquote normal family. My parents are still together. Had an older brother and a younger brother. We grew up in a rural community. Um >> [clears throat and cough] >> you know, everything seems normal the way it was growing up. A little bit of bullying getting growing up as a kid. I used to get motion sick so kids would make fun of me on the bus when the bus would have to stop to let me get sick. Um and so like that you don't realize how much that can affect you throughout the course of your your life. Uh starts really early and you start having some self-doubt in yourself. Um but I went on and I played multiple sports and activities in high school. Uh we did I did football, basketball. I played tennis in my senior year. Um I've been in plays, musicals, choir. Um probably don't ask me to sing right now cuz I haven't warmed up. Uh >> [laughter] >> But then I went off and I played a year of college basketball at a small school in Arkansas. Um part of that was trying to just get away from everything. Uh I thought if you get away from everything, you uh you can start fresh. Um but some of those negative thoughts still follow you along. Um So I played a year in in Arkansas and then decided I wasn't a very good student. So uh for the student athlete and I went back and transferred to the University of Iowa, finished school or went to school there. And then I moved up here in about I think it was 2006 into Minnesota, uh actually into the Chaska community. Um Started helping coach at Holy Family 16 years ago uh for boys basketball. Uh and I do baseball now as well. Um But being around young people always made a big impact for me. Um I spent most of my career working at uh C.H. Robinson in Eden Prairie doing transportation logistics. Um And as I was getting older, you know, comparing myself to my brothers, comparing myself to other people, um just not feeling like I was far enough along in life. Um And that comparison we always try to tell people is is the thief of joy. Uh you take your weaknesses and compare them to somebody else's strengths and you lose that battle 100% of the time. Uh kind of the issue with some social media stuff nowadays. Um all you see are positives and it it didn't really impacts you. Um So from that original self-doubt that I started having from a young age to comparing myself with other people, uh it just starts compacting on top of yourself. Uh I got to a point, you know, start having negative thoughts, um just not confident in myself, and started getting into into some suicidal ideation. Um And I know that's a term that gets thrown out there quite a bit, and people don't always explain that very well, either. Um and it means a lot of different things for different people. For me, I had a lot of days when I was driving to work where I was thinking, "I wonder what it'd be like if I drove off that bridge, or I wonder what it'd be like if I was in a car accident." Not necessarily that I wanted to die that day, but the pain, or to see if anyone would show up at the hospital, um it all kind of just accumulated. And I wish people I wish I would have known that that was a red flag that I should have started seeing someone for help. But I didn't realize that at the time. Uh um in February, February 1st of 2018, um I hit my my lowest point. Um I was in my garage with my hand on the garage door opener, um thinking that uh the world would be a better place without me. Um luckily, that day I did not take my life. Um I went to work, which was the craziest day I can remember. Uh I remember sitting there and and wondering if, you know, thinking that all the people that would walk by me, none of them would notice if I was gone, if I wasn't there that day. Um and I had to go to basketball practice. And when I walked into basketball practice, I had two of my sophomores, uh David and Rory, who came up to me that day and gave me a high five and said, "Coach, we're so happy to see you. Uh how was your day?" And just it it made me it snapped me out of it and made me realize that there's people that actually care about what happens to me. Um and those two saved my life that day. Uh which goes to show that it doesn't matter how old you are. Um everyone can make an impact on somebody else just by being nice. Um the coolest thing about that story is those two players are two of my closest friends now. We go golfing together. We we text all the time. Um they they graduated from high school. They graduated from college. Uh and it's fun to like we've had the conversation about how they made an impact on me and then they've been able to share how I've made an impact on them as well. Um and so it's a really cool uh being able to to grow with them and and share that with them. Um from that I went on and got a lot of my own mental health help. I joined a group up in Shoreview uh that was called the Face the Face It Foundation. Which is for men that deal with depression and anxiety and it's a lot of peer support groups. Um so you have a group of guys that are sitting around talking to each other and talking about life and then and what's going on and being able to share moments with each other. Um and so that peer support has really helped me grow and led me to wanting to grow awareness for mental health. Uh a few years ago I I left working in transportation and I wanted to do something different and I took my passions of young people from coaching and mental health and put them together. Um I reached out to a group up in Elk River and Rogers called uh Thumbs Up and they asked me to be their first affiliate. So, I'm an affiliate with Thumbs Up. Uh and so that got the process started of starting my own nonprofit. Um and so that's where where we are today. Uh, if you go ahead, um, >> [clears throat] >> the programs that we're offering at Thumbs Up, we're starting right now. We've got our after-school and weekend drop-ins. Um, I know school's just getting done, so we haven't done a lot of after-school, but we've we've started in February. We started doing Saturday drop-ins from 11:00 to 2:00. Starting in June, so next week, we're going to be doing Wednesdays from 3:00 until 6:00, so that gives them a couple of other options to come in as well. Um, basically, it's a space for high school kids to come in and build a community. We've got board games and TV and couches and just arts and crafts, things for them to do and hang out and just build that community of of friendship. Um, we teach each other uh, healthy uh, deep stressing techniques, so breathing techniques, journaling, meditation, all those different types of things, tools to use to help you manage stressful situations in life. And then ultimately, it'll turn into a safe place to talk about mental health. Uh, as you get comfortable with the people around you, you feel safe to be able to talk about the things that are bothering you and sometimes just getting that out in the world can help you succeed. Um, we're also looking at a we're building a therapy referral program with local therapists in the area, so that when kids are looking for therapy, we can help refer them to therapists and and other groups like the Grief Club or um, Brighter Days, which is in Eden Prairie. Um, and we're working with those groups to try to fill gaps so that kids can go to multiple spaces to find uh, support that they might need. And then, uh, we're looking to do in the future to do an assistance program as well, which will uh, uh help hopefully cover the first five therapy sessions for some students. We have to get that all funded and in process first, but that's uh in the process that we're going. Um and then basically the best way to help is is being okay to talk about mental health. Um spreading the word to people. That's why I'm here. We want to be out and we want to talk to people and we want everyone to understand that everyone struggles at some point and it's good to be able to reach out to your friends or to to people and be able to talk about struggles and that it's okay to talk about struggles. Um we're always looking for connections and volunteers. So, if there are people in the community that are interested in volunteering at our drop-in um on Saturdays or on the Wednesdays starting soon. Um we're always looking for volunteers to come in and and be an uh an adult supporter to help these kids. And then uh that's kind of where we're at. Um and then if there's any questions um I'm free to open any questions that you guys might have. If anyone has any. >> Well, I was going to ask so is it Okay. Um is the program primarily for boys and men or is it any students? >> It's any students. It's high school students. >> Okay. >> Um I was a basket I am a basketball coach and so I've kind of done the basketball logo, but we're not just for athletes. We we want to include everybody and you also don't have to be struggling with mental health to come in. Um as the numbers show uh there's a huge population of students that are going to face mental health struggles at some point. We want to try to help, be proactive, and invite everyone in so you start building your toolbox now. So that way you're able to uh take on those struggles head-on and and have friends that you can help get through those. >> Um is your drop-in center in the schools or do you have a separate location or how's that set up? >> We We are in uh we're actually just down the street. Um we're right by at where at 812 Walnut Place, so right next to like the Sarpino's and Fantastic Sam's. Uh across the street from the old Cooper's. >> Two things. One, your story has a lot of like ear is I don't know if eerie is the right choice of words, but like it was almost like looking in a mirror to my [clears throat] story. So I there was a lot of it I'm like, "That's me. That's me, too. That's me, too." So >> Be surprised how many times people say that once you get into a group setting. >> Mhm. >> That's the That's the point, right? None of us go through it alone. >> Yep. Yep. Um is there like right now you just have that the two drop-in sessions. Is there a plans to grow like like on this day like here's like a set of like set of things we do on Mondays this, Tuesdays that, Wednesdays this. Um and obviously you're not you're not there yet, but like grow it into something like that or is it TBD? >> Absolutely. So as we grow, as we have more students come in and we have more volunteers, we will have more multiple days open throughout the week. Um more after school type situations. During the summer we'll figure out what's best for the students cuz that's kind of how we want to arrange it. Um but we are planning on doing um a lot of different activities. So uh we've had therapy dogs come in from your You're Not Alone. Um we want to have someone come in and do yoga or Pilates, things like that. I had uh someone come in and speak to the kids that have been there about um performance anxiety a couple weeks ago well before they got to finals. So, trying to do a lot of different uh opportunities for people to come in and speak and and do other fun activities, whether it be going across the street to the park or or workouts or whatever it might be. Uh we do have a plan of adding a lot of different activities. And I do have some brochures, too. I've I'll give those to you in a little bit. >> Well, what I've learned from What I've learned from you over the past year that I've known you is is that um healing from mental health is not just the absence of symptoms. Um it is so many things, but I think that the what your organization is doing is bringing an opportunity for um our young adolescents adolescents, young teens to to like you said, build their tools in their toolbox. Going forward knowing that a community is around them. And of course, from the human rights standpoint we want to be able to stand with you and really appreciate your opportunity to offer this to us. And for our viewing public, of which there are hundreds if you have any questions or if you want to connect with Matthew, um do we have a slide with Matthew's information or contact? >> I don't know but >> do you want to do you want to share your >> Yeah, our website is slamthestigma.org. And you can email me at Matthew, with two t's, m a t t h e w, at slamthestigma.org. Or info@slamthestigma.org works as well. >> That's great. Do you have any questions for us? >> Not at the moment, no. >> Okay. Anything else? >> I have a question. >> Yes. >> Um I know that you're kind of growing and expanding now, so this may not be a true sort of photo, but what is kind of your demographic now of young people participating? >> So currently, um I have a lot of connections with Holy Family being a coach there and I substitute teach there, so our current um students that have been coming um is kind of a split but a boy and girl, um but most of them have been coming from Holy Family. So high school and and we focus on high school teens currently, but we're we're uh we do have information to District 112 and all the counselors have information um >> [clears throat] >> and we're working on connecting with like Southwest Christian as well, but we want to try to continue getting in front of the schools to um be able to invite all students to be there. And we're working with uh first responders as well to >> Great. >> some of their programs. Try We're trying to, anyway. >> Well, if we can help as you expand your programming, please let us know. We're all available to support activities like yours here in Chaska. So thanks so much for making time for us. >> Thank you for inviting me. >> You're welcome. >> it. >> And you'll leave brochures for us. >> Yes. >> Excellent. Thank you so much. Okay, so we have uh a shorter meeting agenda for this evening. We were sent minutes from the April 23rd meeting. I was not here, so of course I read them in detail to make sure that I could catch up with everybody. Did anybody note any changes, deletions, suggestions? >> [clears throat] >> Having heard none, may I have a motion to approve the minutes of April 23rd? >> So moved. >> Motion made by Britt. Is there a second? >> Seconded. >> Was that you, Kevin? >> Yes. >> Thank you, Kevin. If there's no further discussion, all in favor signify by saying I. >> I. >> Opposed? The eyes carry. The treasurer's report for this month is on the final page of your packet that's in front of you. Elise, would you be happy to go over that with us? >> Uh certainly, commissioners, what you will see that is different from the April meeting is we have began to purchase items related to the pride event which will be held next month. You may also remember at the last meeting you approved a $3,000 budget for pride, so that is reflected so in there. So t-shirts have been purchased, they just arrived this afternoon. And then you see the remaining balance of that $3,000 budget and then what your total balance is for the remainder of the year. >> Wow. Are there any questions? >> Shall we hold a bake sale? I'm smiling. >> [laughter] >> Um, if there's no questions, may I have a motion to approve the treasurer's report for May? >> Motion made to approve the report. >> Excellent, Kevin. Is there a second? >> I second. >> Thank you so much. If there's no further discussion, all those uh in favor of approving the May 2026 treasurer's report, signify by saying I. >> I. >> Opposed? Eyes carry. Thank you, Elise. Um, so our activities this evening, we'll talk about uh the Pride celebration, the River City Days opening celebration, and any new business um that we have this evening. Um, so I guess we should probably talk about the Pride celebration, or do you want to wait to go into that during work session? >> So, the plan for this evening is just to give a brief update on where these two committees are at. Um, so if one of the committee members wants to provide an update, otherwise I'm happy to. And then, um just to make sure everybody's on the same page, and then we will, when we are finished with the meeting, we'll break into our subcommittees that are working on these, and continue to work on it. Um, this was something new that Chair Hubbard wanted to try to be able to I know there's a lot of meetings during the day when people are working, so that gets to be tough. So, utilizing this opportunity. So, I'm happy to give an update, or if >> Pride? >> Pride. I mean, I can I can start. Um In terms of changes from our last meeting, I I can't say there's a lot of changes that have taken place. We've just sort of moved forward with securing reservations for some people. Um kind of narrowing down final decisions in each of the sort of categories we were looking at before in terms of um like a bounce house or what kind of ice cream we wanted to provide. Um getting the DJ in place. Those types of things. Um So at a high level, that's sort of where we're at. And I know Elise has been doing a great job double like kind of cross-checking the materials we have from last year and seeing whether we need to buy stuff for this year, hence the t-shirt purchase. But I know that um our photo booth materials are all still in good shape. And Oh man, I had a couple other things to touch on. >> [laughter] >> It's okay. >> They went out the window. Um we are thinking this year about doing a What are we calling a rainbow a rainbow catwalk where people get to kind of dress up in festive kind of dress up clothing and walk down a runway. Rainbow runway. There's alliteration. >> Yes. Yes. >> Um and I think the focus was going to be on getting kind of kids to participate so there could be like boas and headpieces and capes or something. It's >> Cool. >> Yeah, we're still kind of figuring out what we want that to look like and then there'll be obviously music for them to strut their stuff to. So, yeah. >> Can you remind us all and for our viewing public, when is Pride? >> It is celebration. >> June 27th from 3 to 6:00 p.m. at Lions Park. >> It changed. >> Yes. >> Lions Park. >> Yes, so it's at Lions Park. >> That's great. >> Thanks, police. >> That's a Saturday. >> Yeah, in case I got the day wrong. >> [laughter] >> It's a Saturday of that weekend. >> It's that same Saturday as Twin Cities Pride. >> Correct. >> Yes. >> Okay, great. Great. Um >> I have to work Twin I have to work Twin Cities Pride for my full-time job, so this gets me out of working on that Saturday. So I'm not opposed to that. >> [laughter] >> Well, I think we should probably just share that our our event um is this year number six? Yeah, year number six for our is a family celebration, and we have all sorts of fun activities, and um and have lots of fun while we're there. So um plan on coming to um support your community. Okay. Do you have any other details you wanted to offer? >> I don't think so. >> Okay, great. All right, River City Days opening celebration. >> Uh so you may remember at the last meeting um we briefly brought up this uh asked by River City Days to do an opening celebration um event that celebrates the the diversity in our community, and um the ask of the Human Rights Commission was to help coordinate it. The funding for it the event would be provided by River City Days. Uh so, Chair Hubbard looked into it a little further and um said, "Yeah, this would be um something that the Human Rights Commission would like to do." So, we gathered the River City Days group um and have an additional um subcommittee member helping from um our our Chaska residents and um started to develop what this looks like. So, it'll be Friday evening of River City Days, July 24th. Um from The time is about It starts at 4:00, goes till 7:00 or 8:00, however long we can fill it. The idea is um to bring in these different groups and be able to showcase them, give an opportunity. Uh the length of time will depend on how many groups we get um and be able to just share with the community. And I think it's really similar to what this commission has done with the Celebrate Africa, Celebrate India events that we've had over the years. And so, it's just an extension of that, but um more broad. So, uh again, the subcommittee met a couple weeks ago, started to brainstorm these groups, and then the work session tonight continued that discussion. >> It sounds exciting. Um is there any new business that needs to come before us this evening? Okay, having heard none, I'm sure I'm feel certain that we should talk about something else. Is there anything else that we're supposed to talk about tonight? Under new business. No? Okay. All right. Um our next meeting date will be June 25th, 2026. Um as mentioned in the April meeting minutes, uh, we do have another speaker that will be coming in April. I excuse me. At our next meeting in, uh, June, and I'm looking forward to her remarks also. So, um, if there's nothing else and no announcements tonight, no announcements either, then, uh, may I have a motion to adjourn this meeting? >> I motion to adjourn. >> A motion has been made. Is there a second? >> Second. >> All right. All in favor signify by saying I. >> I. >> The meeting is adjourned. Thank you so much. And please stay