Relations Commission Gets $188,000 Grant
The Orange County Human Relations Commission has received a $188,000 CommunitiesFirst grant from The California Endowment.
The money is set to support the commission’s “living room dialogues” program, focusing on post-Sept. 11 community relations in Anaheim, Garden Grove, Irvine and Huntington Beach.
The program, which works with the American-Arab Discrimination Committee, the county Board of Supervisors and the Anti-Defamation League, brings together 10 to 15 people from varying backgrounds to discuss racial, religious and lifestyle issues throughout OC. Discussions are held in a “living room”,often at a member’s home or similar setting.
The commission’s recent report on hate crimes showed a 33% rise to 181 incidents in 2001 vs. 2000, with 66 of those acts occurring in September. The study showed a high number of acts (57) toward perceived Middle Easterners after the Sept. 11 attacks.
The grant should help the commission reach its goal of 100 “dialogues” in the next two years, officials said, up from 34 now. The money also is set to be used to hire a full-time human relations specialist to head the program.
Based in Santa Ana, the commission is known for its “Bridges” program, which has more than 35,000 participants in OC schools, and its “Dispute Resolution” program, which offers mediation as an alternative to litigation.
The California Endowment was created in 1996 as a result of Blue Cross of California’s conversion to for-profit healthcare services provider WellPoint Health Networks Inc. of Thousand Oaks.
,Samantha Lee
