Rotopep for April 30, 2026

President-Elect Mark Lowry called the meeting to order at 12:28, after heroically trying to be sure that the meeting was available on Zoom to those attending remotely (including your Scribe!  Thanks, Mark!) 

The meeting was held at the Evanston City Council Chambers, newly located at 909 Davis St. in Evanston. 

Visiting Rotarians:  Kevin Rooney from Fryeberg Area, Maine.

Guests:  Corey Shepherd, Tetiana Mykhalovska from Ukraine, Mehr Manzoor, and our speaker, Jeron Dorsey, Deputy Director of Parks, Recreation and Community Services Department. Jeron was joined by Lucas and Rachel, two of Evanston’s crisis responders 

Jue Myers gave the Inspiration.  She gave two quotes from Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.: 

"I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word in reality" — Nobel Peace Prize Acceptance Speech, 1964. 

“The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy. The true neighbor will risk his position, his prestige, and even his life for the welfare of others.” From his 1963 book, Strength to Love 

Mark then introduced our speaker, Jeron Dorsey.  Jeron was born and raised in Evanston, and he has worked much of his career for the city of Evanston. 

He holds a BA in Business Administration, with a minor in HR Management, and a master's in Sports Administration, from Northwestern. 

He's a certified crisis responder and certified in crisis prevention by the Crisis Prevention Institute. 

Evanston has established an alternative to the police response team here in Evanston. This is a national movement that's going on all across the country right now. And many states have adopted the model. Evanston just launched our program in July of 2024. 

The care team purpose is to proactively engage with community members, building positive and strong relationships that foster trust and understanding. 

Many calls to 911, 311, or the non-emergency number cannot really be handled by police, fire or EMS.  Many situations can be handled by trained responders like Evanston now provides 

Their mission is to raise awareness of the program and work collaboratively with community partners to address and meet the needs of both individuals and the community as a whole, ensuring a compassionate, holistic approach to care and support. 

In October of 2020, many communities began launching these programs in direct response to the George Floyd incident in Minneapolis. 

So in October of 2020, there was a committee called the Alternative Emergency Response Committee, and that consisted of community members, elected officials, and they were tasked with doing the initial research regarding whether Evanston is able to launch an alternative response program, and if so, what resources would be needed to get there. They wanted to develop a non-police response for community members in need of immediate support. They looked at a lot of programs across the country, to see how those programs are designed.

Evanston's program is designed to be an additional resource that can support the police, but none of the funding has come from funds that have been taken from the police and reallocated. 

LEAP stands for Law Enforcement Action Partnership.  LEAP's task was to provide research and make recommendations on how to expand civilian response to 911 calls. 

Karen Kring served as Sgt-at-Arms. Orchids and Onions:

Orchid from Dave for his daughter competing in water polo. 

Orchid from Brian for being a single dad while his wife took a trip for her birthday. 

Orchids from Karen for whoever ordered the pizza and the four generous members who are covering the expenses for the membership boosting initiative, which includes the May 27 event about Martin Luther King, Jr.