Welcome to One Hillsborough
Meeting Notes of Sunday February 19th, 2023
The link address is: https://drive.google.com/file/d/16B8hi35fDtUgHRb6j6Oot5nN1DhZXdN-/view?usp=sharing
Inaugural Town-Wide Community Conversation
About seventy Hillsborough residents, students, community leaders, police and other stakeholders came together to listen, share experiences and exchange ideas on what works well and what could or should be improved in our community.
After initial welcome remarks, representatives of various institutions and organizations introduced our four topics for the night. Mayor Lipani spoke of government, police Chief McMahon shared some thoughts on the police department, education was introduced by Assistant Superintendent Feltre, and community involvement received remarks from Naz Cattelona, representing the Hillsborough YMCA Board, and Raina James, representing Hillsborough High School’s Student Diversity Initiative.
Some additional notable characteristics of the night included the exhibit of Hillsborough student’s artwork (see the photo collection of the event) celebrating Martin Luther King, the presence of all four additional Township Committee Members, the attendance of ten Hillsborough Police Officers, the Middle School principal, multiple teachers, and additional community organizations with information tables: the Stoutsburg Sourland African American Museum, BoroSAFE, the Hillsborough-Millstone Municipal Alliance, and the NJ Division on Civil Rights.
A brief program break –refreshments courtesy of the Hillsborough Education Association– allowed for participants to walk to four large Post-It boards to ponder and share their views on “What is going well” and “Where is there room for improvement?” on the four specific topics for the night. Four breakout groups were then formed to engage in a facilitated discussion on issues facing the community. Student Diversity Initiative co-facilitators were on hand, as were dedicated scribes to take notes. After well over an hour of earnest conversations and reflections, group summaries were shared and special guest Mrs. Patricia Williamson of the New Jersey Division on Civil Rights shared some observations on the importance of residents being engaged in their towns civic life.
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From most accounts, this inaugural town-wide community conversation seems to have accomplished the dual goal of fostering dialogue among and between community and leadership, and add to the growing recognition of One Hillsborough as a group platform for advocacy and activism, particularly on behalf of the unheard and underrepresented.
After the event, the Post-It boards were combined with the discussion notes of each group to generate written summaries for each of the night’s topics. These summaries have been sent to all participants and institutional representatives and are available here: government, public safety, education, community involvement. The full report covering all topics and Post-It boards is also available.
One Hillsborough welcomes all residents to join in partnership and goodwill that begins with having good conversations. Our follow-up events will circle back to questions and concerns where possible, and the institutions were invited to provide feedback before our next community gathering, tentatively planned for Friday the 28th of April, 2023.
The full Community Conversation MLK2023 Report
Photo collection of the inaugural Community Conversation/MLK2023
Note: Journalist Rod Hirsch covered the event comprehensively online at TAPintoHillsborough.
Save the Date: Night of Conversation 2023
- http://hillsboroughcommons.org/events/night-of-conversation-2023
- Save the Date: Night of Conversation 2023
- 2023-03-30T18:00:00-04:00
- 2023-03-30T20:00:00-04:00
- Affiliated Event: Annually recurring BoroSafe event to promote mental wellness and provide tools for creating meaningful family dialogues. For 2023: to be held on March 30th at the Hillsborough Municipal Building from 6–8 p.m.
- What Promoting Public Event
- When Mar 30, 2023 from 06:00 PM to 08:00 PM (US/Eastern / UTC-400)
- Where Hillsborough Municipal Building
- Contact Name Minda Maggio
-
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Free and open to the public. Dinner provided!
The event is hosted by BoroSafe, a community collaborative with an aim to provide access to mental health resources, emotional well-being best practices and suicide prevention resources across the entire Hillsborough Community. Our cause is to proactively connect the community with resources surrounding mental health for all community members. Ensuring the entire community is able to work on their emotional wellbeing, no matter where on the mental health continuum they may fall.
Sponsored by the Hillsborough Education Association and Hillsborough Township.
One Hillsborough amplifies this effort as an affiliated event.
Second Community Screening of Me, the Other
Nishat’s impression: “And what a night! This was our group who watched Me, The Other. The film was stunning and such a beautiful story about people who just want to belong and not be seen through their differences. We had a rich conversation after and discussed how so many more people should see this movie. (More to come on that front!) It was an honor hearing how the film was made from the Director. Can’t wait to see this again with a bigger audience! Also ps - every story resonated with each of us in different ways - and once again helping us see that we are so much more connected than we are different.
For the curious, there is some background of our first screening in 2021.
About Me, The Other
English Feature Documentary (84 minutes) by director and co-producer Shidan Majidi.
Real stories of a diverse characters experiencing prejudice, with the intent to create conversations about what connects us and what keeps us apart. Available on Vimeo-on-demand. More info at www.metheotherfilm.com