FThe events of September 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 on Civil Rights 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.
This 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."
An itemization of historic civil rights accomplishments under recent pressure of rollback points to the need for a project like CommUNITY 2000. Court decisions have chipped away at affirmative action. Racial profiling abuses took greater clarity after September 11. Isolated high profile media stories continue, from Matthew Shepard in Wyoming to James Byrd in east Texas. The 1988 fair housing protections for people with disabilities are only partially realized. The 2000 Census found more diversity but persistent economic and racial segregation. Analysts acknowledge the great strides of the last 50 years in fair housing do not mean the nation has reached its goals.
A Menu of Strategies promotes use of the work by CommUNITY 2000 in communities nationwide.
- Nationally, the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights Education Fund and the National Fair Housing Alliance built coalitions and disseminated information. LCCREF convened five meetings of local and national civil rights and fair housing advocates to exchange information; commis- sioned an independent evaluation of the project; used technology to advance social change through special web sites; and assessed the civil rights and fair housing climate in 10 cities. This environmental scan yielded the leadership example of Cincinnati's Housing Opportunities Made Easy (HOME), which is specifically recognized for excellence. NFHA created and disseminated two publications: A "Fight Hate" prevention and response guide; and "Fight Hate" rapid response strategy guide.
- The Fair Housing Center of Greater Boston increased tenant involvement in South Boston public housing and allied with a community coalition in South Boston addressing the needs of low- income families. The Fair Housing Center performed and published a 30-page study of Greater Boston rental discrimination. And the housing center reached a settlement with the Boston Globe ending discriminatory rental advertisements.
- Chicago's "Congregations Building CommUNITY" weekends in Spring 2000 and 2001 brought together religious leaders to address their moral obligations to promote fair housing and racial justice under the direction of the Leadership Council for Metropolitan Open Communities. The Lake County Anti-Hate Crimes Task Force forged a partnership between the Chicago Leadership Council and a suburban state's attorney to examine a recently rural, now suburban and increasingly populous county's commitment to working on hate crimes and other bias issues. The Leadership Council formed an Immigrant Fair Housing Roundtable, convened a Regional Exchange Congress in suburban Oak Park, a longtime integrated community, to share ideas in a format so successful a national conference is planned in Cleveland in late 2002. An alliance with the Northern Illinois Planning Commission created a conference focusing on ways to balance economic development, zoning and occupancy issues. The Leadership Council helped sponsor events for administrators of high schools in south and west-side suburbs to learn about anti-bias programs.
- Access Living in Chicago created a self-advocacy curriculum for people with disabilities, reaching specifically fair housing advocates, college students, political and policy leaders in community forums, workshops, campuses, which was coupled with public education efforts to present more housing system choices in the hands of people with disabilities. Access Living also developed a rapid response system that mobilizes when community tensions arise because a person with disabilities moves into a neighborhood.
- In San Diego, the Fair Housing Council created a hate crimes rapid response team in partnership with a well-established San Diego coalition; held a community celebration, marking San Diego's ethnic diversity &151; Unity Fest 2001; produced "Hate Crimes in San Diego Are Unlawful" fliers in English and Spanish; and a hate crimes flow chart with the California Department of Justice linking all California fair housing centers to state resources.
In Phase Two, which began in December 2000, CommUNITY 2000 is building on its work in Boston, extending the program to the Triangle Region of North Carolina, and exporting Access Living's strategies to both sites.
