Norwalk Commission on Gender Equity reconvenes, sets priorities and partners with Norwalk Public Schools

The Norwalk Commission on Gender Equity resumed regular meetings on Tuesday evening, approved its earlier minutes and outlined short-term priorities including outreach, data collection and a social-media plan while agreeing to collaborate with Norwalk Public Schools on a Women's History Month program.

"True gender equity to me means that we include equity on all of our boards, commissions, committees and authorities," resident Diane Loracella said during public comment, noting that several city boards continue to show underrepresentation of women. "It's a fact that we still do not have anywhere near gender equity on several boards and commissions." Loracella urged the commission to use more visible outreach such as advertising openings in local papers and said she plans to speak with the new mayor, Barbara Smith, about restoring a water-quality committee she said has been inactive.

Why it matters: Commissioners said they want two to three achievable action items to guide the commission as it becomes active again after a period of technical delays. Members emphasized bolstering public awareness of openings, recruiting youth members, securing a modest outreach budget for materials, and getting better gender-disaggregated data from city departments to inform policy recommendations.

Sharon, a member of the legislative advocacy subcommittee, described the committee's plan to clarify the commission's authority to weigh in on state legislation in an advisory capacity. "Our bylaws do not clearly allow the commission to weigh in on legislation at the state level," she said; the committee has drafted language that would keep the commission's role advisory and recommended a roughly three-month process to request city review, hold a public hearing and seek a vote on bylaw revisions.

Brandilyn Fulton Williams, director of policy and strategy in the mayor's office, introduced herself and offered staff support: "I'm going through each board and commission and I can get you the list of women on each one," she said, offering to help the commission access charters, ordinances and staff contacts necessary to carry out outreach and clarify procedural limits.

Event collaboration and timeline: Jasmine reported that Norwalk Public Schools invited the commission to participate in a collaborative Women's History Month program with student performances, a TED'style talk and awards. The commission discussed logistics for tabling in the City Hall lobby and agreed to help publicize nominations; the transcript records the program as scheduled for March 24 at 5:00 p.m. and commissioners agreed to extend the nomination deadline to March 18 to allow time to circulate the corrected flyer and nomination link.

Procedural notes and vacancies: The minutes from the July 14, 2025 meeting were approved after a motion and second. Commissioners also discussed adding simple bylaw language such as "commissioners serve until replaced" to reduce the risk of operational pauses during mayoral transitions and agreed to bring proposed language back at the next meeting. Members noted several commission vacancies and tasked the outreach committee with assembling a list of gender-focused nonprofits and contact details to recruit applicants.

What comes next: The commission signaled it will circulate the bylaws draft and prior letters to the mayor's office for review, schedule a public hearing on proposed bylaw language, and prepare volunteers to review nominations for the schools event. The chair called the meeting to a close at 7:59 p.m.

Actions recorded: a motion to approve minutes (moved by Sharon; seconded by Chair Christina Testabuzzi) and a motion to adjourn (moved by Shannon; seconded by Jasmine); the transcript does not record individual roll-call tallies for either vote.