Mayor Vasquez relaunched the Human Rights Commission by appointing nine community members. The Human Rights Commission would enlist the cooperation of racial, ethnic, civic, fraternal, benevolent, private, and public agencies in eliminating discrimination and promoting better relations between all sectors of the community by cultivating an atmosphere of mutual understanding and harmonious intergroup relationships. The members come from religious, legal, nonprofit, education, social work, labor, LGBTQ+, community organizing, and other backgrounds. Over the years they have demonstrated passion towards serving all residents in the city of Lawrence.

Mayor Vasquez identified individuals who are passionate about human rights to serve on the commission, the members highlighted their experience and passion for human rights which made the search easy. Mayor Vasquez stated, “I am excited to see the positive work that they will accomplish on behalf of all of Lawrence residents.”

The members appointed are Saundra Edwards, Michael Fernandez, Arlene Garcia, Victor Jarvis, Wendy Luzon, Meyers, Francisco Paulino, Laura Santana, and Jailyn Youngblood. One of the members appointed to the commission Pastor Victor Jarvis said “Human and civil rights is the right to life. The community needs to be more educated in their rights. To defend the rights of people you do not need to be part of the commission you can defend human rights by the actions you take every day.” Pastor Jarvis served on the Human Rights Commission previously and defended human rights in his home country of the Dominican Republic in 1983 and he says he is excited to serve the city of Lawrence as a commission for a second time.

The Lawrence City Council voted to approve the Human Rights Commission on Thursday February 16th, 2021. The members will now be meeting on the second Monday of every month at 6pm. If you would like to learn more about the commission, please visit cityoflawrence.com.