Though the Civil Rights Movement was a non-violent movement, African Americans' struggle for civil rights was frequently violent. Knowing this, Congress put a provision into the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to create a body within the Department of Justice to be a "peacemaker" when community tensions arise based on race, color, or national origin. 

The Community Relations Service (CRS) provides aid to state and local governments and public and private organizations that are in preventing and resolving racial and ethnic tensions.  By providing independent conciliation services free of charge, CRS serves as an impartial mediator, facilitating racial harmony among communities of all sizes as well as the government.  In order to protect the integrity of the service and the engaged parties, the Act mandated that CRS' work be confidential and without publicity.

CRS played a critical role over the last 45 years in helping to make desegregation efforts run more smoothly in communities across the country.  Since its establishment, CRS has worked on a wide range of cases across the country, from school desegregation and urban riots, to tensions between local college students and community law enforcement.  In 2008, following the Jena 6 incident, CRS created a "Noose Incident Response Team" to better monitor community tensions around these incidents.

It wasn't until I traveled outside America that I really felt American.  Growing up in the United States I always categorized myself ethnically as Chinese, because that distinction was much more apparent to me than any national identity. 

It wasn't until the past few years in discussing the merits and idiosyncrasies of my country to family in Beijing, students in London, and a traveling Australian in Vienna, that I realized my identity as an American defined me just as much as my ethnic identity.  I saw that I didn't just belong to my subset of America, but that I was part of a greater whole, and the attitudes and actions of my country were an integral part of me.

Since that realization, I have felt a responsibility as an American to be aware of the issues facing different groups in the United States and to encourage others to think beyond their individual identity to embrace the diverse interests and perspectives that make our country so unique. 

Interning at LCCR/EF has given me a wonderful opportunity to fulfill that responsibility by writing website posts about civil rights injustices, supporting the nomination of an extremely qualified Hispanic woman to the Supreme Court, and helping to organize events to spread knowledge to my peers about the need and opportunities for social justice work.  Working alongside the passionate and patriotic people at LCCR/EF has inspired anew my belief in social justice and my pride in being an American.

The Campaign for High School Equity (CHSE), a coalition of national civil rights organizations that includes the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights Education Fund, says that schools could help close the achievement gap and provide incentives for staying in school by addressing many health issues that disproportionately affect minority and low-income students.

Mandatory physical education, healthy lunches, and information about eating well would contribute to students' physical health and help them excel in school. Students should also have access to properly trained, culturally sensitive mental health professionals in school. School-based health centers, of which there are approximately 1700 in the United States, also provide their students with equal access to primary health care.

More than 23 percent of African-American children between the ages of 12 and 19 were obese in 2006, which is higher than the national average of obese children (17.6 percent). And according to the National Adolescent Health Information Center, African-American and Latino children experience higher rates of depression and suicide.

Children spend seven to eight hours a day in school, more time than they spend anywhere else.  And yet only 53 percent of schools teach students about healthy eating habits and just 18 percent offer fruits and vegetables.

"In the same low-income and minority neighborhoods where most low-performing schools are concentrated, we find extreme disparities in access to quality, affordable health care," said David Goldberg, senior counsel at LCCR.  "Research and common sense make it very clear that poor nutrition and health compound the problems of lower-quality education because sick kids miss more school days, and illness and poor nutrition both sap children of the ability to focus and learn while they are in school."

After more than 30 years in the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area, Higher Achievement, an intensive academic after-school and summer program for motivated but underserved middle school children (grades 5-8) has opened two Achievement Centers in Baltimore, Maryland. Higher Achievement extends learning opportunities for middle school youth, guaranteeing motivated students equal access to success in both school and life.

The program has served more than 10,000 children since its founding in 1975 and 95 percent of the students who completed Higher Achievement's full four-year program having gone on to college. The opening of programs in Baltimore is part of Higher Achievement's national expansion.  The Achievement Centers are located in both East and West Baltimore and began their Summer Academies in June. 

"Higher Achievement has proven itself in Washington, raising students' grades and test scores, and raising their goals and expectations for academic success in high school and college," said David Goldberg, LCCR senior counsel.  "The Leadership Conference, along with the Department of Education and many others, has recognized Higher Achievement as one of the nation's best academic enrichment programs and we are excited to support the opening of the Baltimore Achievement Centers."

When school starts this fall, Higher Achievement-Baltimore will launch its After School Academy and is currently recruiting mentors to work with the 5th and 6th grade students for two hours a week during the school year.  For more information, visit www.higherachievement.org, email mentorbaltimore@higherachievement.org, or call 410-752-7753.

Four years after Hurricane Katrina destroyed hundreds of thousands of Gulf Coast homes, a lack of affordable housing, thousands of unihabitable residences, and a stagnant real estate market continue to vex New Orleans residents and evacuees looking to return to the city.

The Road Home, a federally funded program that provides compensation to homeowners affected by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, has distributed $7.95 billion to help Gulf Coast residents return to their homes. But while the number of unoccupied homes in St. Bernard and Orleans parishes has increased in the past year, 53 percent and 31 percent of homes are still vacant, respectively.

According to a June 2009 report by the Greater New Orleans Community Data Center, the average rent for a studio apartment is $733 per month, which is 40 percent more expensive than pre-Katrina rates.  Few service workers can afford a New Orleans area apartment without paying more than 30 percent of their income.

Like many metropolitan areas dealing with the economic crisis, the New Orleans housing market has suffered in the past year. Home sales are down 23 percent since May 2008, but housing prices have not fallen as steeply as the national average, making homeownership a relative expensive proposition in the city. 

As states continue to cut funding for mental health programs, mentally ill youth are increasingly held in juvenile detention rather than receiving the medical care they need.

Currently, about two-thirds of inmates in juvenile detention centers across the country have a diagnosed mental illness. Juvenile detention centers often fail, or are ill-equipped, to provide mentally ill youth with the help they could get from mental health facilities. 

At least 32 states have cut community mental health programs this year and plan to double reductions by 2010. Ohio has reduced funding for community-based mental health services by 34 percent. California's recent budget cuts entail cutting $92 million in funding for mental health services and reducing funding for community clinics by as much as 30 percent. 

State cuts to mental health services exacerbate an already tough situation for many mentally ill youth seeking care.  According to a 2006 study, for every 100,000 youths there are fewer than nine child psychiatrists.   

Dr. Aziza Baccouche, a nuclear physicist, freelance TV producer and motivational speaker, is breaking barriers for the blind. 

At eight years old, Dr. Aziza lost her vision to a blood clot and has since undergone five brain surgeries. Yet she overcame her disability to become one of a handful of blind people to gain a doctorate in nuclear physics and has successfully pursued a career in television, producing segments for CNN and PBS and serving as those networks' first blind on-air correspondent. 

Seventy percent of blind Americans are currently unemployed, a figure Dr. Aziza believes is largely a result of employers' reluctance to hire people with disabilities.  Dr. Aziza hopes to transform employer perceptions of blind people and is currently producing a biographical film "Seeking Vision", to encourage all people to pursue their dreams.