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CommUNITY 2000: Report
CommUNITY 2000 has announced the release of a new report detailing a menu of community tension reduction strategies and the national and local partners' contributions to the project. The report, entitled "Building Community in a Nation of Neighborhoods," documents the successes and challenges of the nation's first initiative to reduce and respond to housing-related tensions.
The events of 9/11 brought CommUNITY 2000's accomplishments into focus. Thanks to CommUNITY 2000, in several communities around the country, those concerned about reprisals were able to act more decisively than ever before. Within three days after the attacks, the Fair Housing Council of San Diego sent fliers in Arabic explaining state and federal protections from hate crimes and distributed the template nationally. Publication was possible because of groundwork laid months earlier for Latino, Asian and African translations. A few days later, the national team of the Leadership Conference Education Fund and the National Fair Housing Alliance announced publication of its "Fight Hate" hate crime prevention and response handbook. Chicago and Boston CommUNITY 2000 partners' local advisory networks released statements condemning acts of hate.
The report documents the first phase of CommUNITY 2000 from July 1999 to December 2001. CommUNITY 2000 responds to community tensions that arise when people exercise their rights under the Fair Housing Act. Its three-fold goals:
- To develop and implement a variety of specific strategies which foster good will in neighborhoods nationwide.
- To evaluate and document the processes and outcomes of those strategies.
- To compile a Menu of Strategies that details which programs were successful, and why. The Menu is available for use and adaptation by any person or group looking for ways to reduce tensions in their own neighborhoods. The Menu of Strategies is CommUNITY 2000's answer to the question, "Can we all get along?" It says, "Yes. Here's how."
