Most cities have a Human Relations Commission (HRC) to mediate disputes, help businesses, individuals and agencies resolve issues involving discrimination, and provide city government a greater understanding of how policies and funding affect less vocal minorities. Our city’s HRC was disbanded in the 1990s and it’s time to bring it back.
The HRC is an all-volunteer committee of nine residents, appointed by the City Council, who have diverse backgrounds and skills in mediation, cultural competency, community leadership, and human services.
The HRC requires no funding, does not have regulatory power, and will operate like most other city boards and commissions.
How will the Human Relations Commission benefit our community?
The HRC will hear grievances from any resident or business involving discrimination, and will use mediation and reconciliation to resolve disputes without litigation. Unresolved conflicts may be referred to the Colorado Civil Rights Division.
The HRC will conduct informed advocacy, and educate the business community, nonprofits and the public sector on how to avoid illegal discrimination and work constructively with employees, clients, customers and citizens with diverse backgrounds.
The HRC will be a resource for residents affected by the loss of services from recent budget cuts, connecting people with existing services or identifying new needs that nonprofit agencies could address.
The HRC will promote public-private partnerships to find solutions to community problems and will improve police-community relations by promoting constructive dialogue.
Save the date and join Citizens Project at the 6th annual Creating Community Breakfast! This fun and free fundraising breakfast will feature speakers, musical entertainment and a few surprises.
Thursday, June 3, 2010
7:30 – 8:30am (check-in begins at 7:00am)
Bigg City Event Center, 5825 Mark Dabling Blvd (south entrance)
Learn more about the work Citizens Project is doing in the Pikes Peak region to promote equal rights, diversity, religious freedom through separation of church and state and civic engagement, and learn how you can help! RSVP now to reserve your seat.
Please join Citizens Project at a community gathering and join the conversation!
Come meet your neighbors for informal discussions about how we can work together to make our community a better place. Citizens Project invites you to join us in creating a louder voice for inclusion, diversity and equal rights. We want to hear your stories and create conversations that lead to bridging cultural divides in our community.
Community Conversations
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
5:30 – 6:30 pm
Panera Bread, 7344 North Academy Shops, 80920 (map)
Saturday, May 8, 2010
10:00 – 11:00 am
Panera Bread, 3120 New Center Point, 80922 (map)
Special thanks to Citizens Project youth volunteer videographer Isaac and Impact Video Production for this video! Interviews were taped at the 2009 Everybody Welcome Festival of Cultural Diversity in Colorado Springs’ America the Beautiful Park.
It’s been revealed: Citizens Project is the agency behind the subversive ads you may have seen around town. The Gazette ran a nice story about it, and what these crazy messages really represent is our communitywithout Citizens Project:
Now we invite you to join us to make our community a better place. We are creating a louder voice for inclusion, diversity and equal rights by collecting stories, creating conversations, and telling a new, powerful story of Colorado Springs and the Pikes Peak region.
Today, we want to hear more about you.
Tell us your story. Tell us about your personal experiences of diversity, discrimination, inclusion, or isolation. Tell us about a time you felt unwelcome or devalued in our community, and tell us about a time you felt included and respected. Tell us what you wish for Colorado Springs and our region, and how you think Citizens Project can help residents make a difference.
Educators, historians, journalists and commentators all over the country are decrying the decision by the Texas Board of Education to approve highly politicized revisions to public school curriculum.
Historians on Tuesday criticized proposed revisions to the Texas social studies curriculum, saying that many of the changes are historically inaccurate and that they would affect textbooks and classrooms far beyond the state’s borders.
The San Antonio Express-News says the “latest example of SBOE incompetence springs from the same source as other outrages: The inability of social conservatives on the state board to distinguish between ideology and education.”
Maggie Rivas-Rodriguez, director of the U.S. Latino & Latina World War II Oral History Project at the University of Texas School of Journalism, says the Texas State Board of Education apparently wasn’t listening as witnesses came from across the state to urge members to consider the inclusion of more Hispanic Americans in social studies curriculum standards.
You may have been wondering who is behind those provocative messages appearing on billboards, bus shelters, on TV, in newspapers, online and around town:
Well, it’s us: Citizens Project. We hope our ad campaign will make people think. We know it made some people mad. But our ultimate goal is to start a conversation. A conversation about true American values – diversity, equality and religious freedom, including the separation of church and state. A conversation about our differences. And about how to live together while preserving equal rights for everyone in the community.
How YOU Can Join the Conversation
We are a grassroots community organization powered by residents as volunteers, supporters and advocates. Together we can give voice to our shared values. Make a difference today:
Attend a neighborhood conversation – this week we will announce dates and location for informal, get-to-know-your-neighbors gatherings to meet and discuss
Join our email list and invite your friends to do the same, so you can receive updates about the issues and invitations to community-creating events in your neighborhood
Tell us your story: why does religious freedom, equality, diversity and civic engagement matter to you?
Over the past 18 years Citizens Project has been a grassroots voice for respecting differences, protecting equality, and promoting civic engagement, so we can all live together while preserving the fundamental rights guaranteed in the U.S. Constitution for everyone. There are wide political and cultural gulfs in our community. And if we want to defend and protect the fundamental American values of liberty and equality for all, then we need to make a community commitment to respect those differences, while letting others hold onto their beliefs without limiting their rights and freedoms.
The Gazette is a longtime supporter of Citizens Project and they are extending a special offer to our supporters. Click on the link below to subscribe to The Gazette and they will donate $25 to Citizens Project. You can stay up-to-date on all your local news, and support us at the same time!
