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What's Happening LA County Commission on Human
Relations
Media Image Coalition
zerohour Committee Meeting
2008 Interfaith Roundtable on Hate Crime The Los Angeles County Human Relations Commission will host an interfaith roundtable breakfast on intergroup relations and hate crime in Los Angeles County for interfaith leaders on Thursday, June 26, 2008 at Descanso Gardens, 1418 Descanso Drive, La Canada-Flintridge. The roundtable discussion will take place in Van De Kamp Hall from 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. on the 2007 Hate Crime Report for Los Angeles County, the effects of racialized gang violence and its impact on the faith community, the Commission’s zerohour youth initiative, and discuss ways faith leaders and organizations can initiate and/or become engaged in promoting positive intergroup relations in their community and countywide. zerohour/Teens Make A Difference Day County-wide Youth Conference The Commission, in collaboration with L.A. City Recreation and Parks – Class Parks Program, LA Conservation Corps – Clean N Green Program, Connect LA and SGS Produce hosted a zerohour/Teens Make A Difference Day county-wide youth conference on Saturday, May 31 at Expo Center at Exposition Park from 9am to 3pm. Approximately 125 teens from dozens of organizations, schools and project sites shared their experiences from the October 2007 effort that encouraged teens to design, develop and implement community service and volunteer projects. It was an excellent opportunity to introduce zerohour to countywide youth outside of our five schools, since students from Pomona HS and Gardena HS led workshops on the zerohour initiative at their respective schools. This was the first opportunity to promote the 2008 zerohour/Teens Make A Difference Day in October where there will be an emphasis on promoting intergroup, inter-community and inter-generational projects. The Conference included a presentation on service learning from Tree People. Network Against Hate Crime
Death On A Schoolyard: Making Sense Of The Tragic Death Of Lawrence King
A panel of experts discussed community reaction to this horrific crime. Jay Smith, Director of the Ventura County
Rainbow Alliance, explained that King participated in his agency's youth leadership development group. Alliance
staff had been in communication with school administrators because King had complained of escalating harassment.
Unfortunately, their warnings were not heeded. Jake Finney, Lead Victim Advocate, Anti-Violence Project, L.A.
Gay & Lesbian Center and Judy Chiasson, LAUSD Office of Human Relations, Diversity and Equity discussed their agencies' efforts
to promote safe, inclusive school environments and prevent homophobic harassment and bigotry.
TEENS MAKE A DIFFERENCE DAY KICKS OFF The Teens Make A Difference Day 2008 Teen Conference takes place on Saturday, May 31, 2008 at Expo Center in Exposition Park. The event starts at 8:30 a.m. and concludes at 3:30 p.m. Please contact Sharon Williams at swilliams@hrc.lacounty.gov for more information. FOOD FOR THOUGHT The CalArts Community Arts Partnership (CAP), Los Angeles County Commission on Human Relations and William S. Hart High School hosted a reception and reading on May 7 to celebrate the publication of FOOD FOR THOUGHT, a book authored by immigrant student participants in the CAP/William S. Hart High School Creative Writing Program. The Community Arts Partnership was made possible by a generous grant from Lockheed Martin Foundation to the Human Relations Commission’s zerohour: No Haters Here! initiative at Hart HS. Like tapas, the Iberian appetizers that provide a variety of flavor in a small, quick bite, the publication, Food For Thought offers insight from the students of Hart High School's English Language learners. Poetry, essays, fiction, and non-fiction in Spanish and English opens the homes, and hopes of nearly 60 first-time writers to the world. To produce this publication, the Cal-Arts Community Arts Project sent a dozen graduate fiction students into the school to teach, mentor, and inspire. Over 6 months, the entrees began to emerge, until the collected stories of this entire group was collected in Food For Thought. The idea for such a publication came about when the Los Angeles Human Relations Commission began working at the school to promote better relations between students groups- hoping to prevent the academic frustration and cultural misunderstanding which underlined a racial riot at the school in May, 2005. Giving traditionally marginalized students a voice and opportunity to express themselves, leads to the school community as a whole to understand them as individuals, lessening the traditional barriers of culture, language and race which can separate people.
Phyllis Cheng, Esq.
Director
Department of Fair Employment and Housing
¤ Click here for Phyllis Cheng's DFEH Presentation. Interfaith Call to Justice -
A person who asked a question is a fool for 5 min but a person who never asked a question is a fool for life.
2006 Hate Crime Report
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In the News
Congratulations to students from Torrance area high schools for their award winning art and literature from the 2008 Martin Luther King, Jr. VISIONS OF UNITY Contest. Sculpture and Ceramics: First Place, Natalie Friess, Torrance High School Second Place, Noah Ortega, Torrance High School Third Place, Daniel Nguyen, Torrance High School Honorable Mention, Patrick Lynch, Torrance High School Painting and Drawing: First Place, Janice Lee, Torrance High School Second Place, Ji Yong Kim, West High School Third Place, Danbee Ha, West High School Honorable Mention, Angela Yoo and Da Mi Kim, South High School Christine Seo and Sean Huddleston, Torrance High School Michelle Cho, West High School Poetry:* First and Second Place Tie, Raymon Song, South High School And Thanh Van, North High School Third Places, Jordan Chong and Kyle Hirata, North High School Honorable Mention, Haneul Yoo and Youbin Park, North High School Natalie Friess, Torrance High School Essay:* First place, Lynn Chai, Torrance High School Second Place, Laura Miller, West High School Third Place, Julia Lee, West High School Honorable Mention, Jay Park, West High School, Kenta Tanaka and Kimberly Snodgrass, South High School, John Lee, Jeff Cruz Kristen Wakamoto and Amy Duong, North High School Fiction:* First Place, Michelle Kaito, North High School *To read winning literary entries, click here.
LACCHR presents at the 2008 Bi-annual Conference of the California Association of Human Relations Organizations (CAHRO) Senior Consultant Tony Massengale opened the conference with his presentation "Building Community Through Civic Organizing" in which he asserts that the human relations paradigm for the 21st Century is one in which the new playing field for tried and true community organizing principles is our government institutions. According to this paradigm, leaders steeped in the tradition of social justice, labor and community organizing are being increasingly integrated into educational and civic institutions… and this is exactly what is needed to transform our public institutions so that they can better understand and meet the needs of the communities they are meant to serve. Senior Consultant Cherylynn Hoff sat on the "Creating Safe and Inclusive School's" panel which explored human relations best practices in reducing bias-related violence, empowering youth leaders to resolve conflicts and create inclusive campuses, and enforcing federal and state mandates that require safe learning environments for our youth. Hoff presented on the Commission's "Zerohour School-based Human Relations Program" that highlights the steps six schools in LA County have taken to embed systemic human relations infrastructure-on-going practices, strategies and programs-into the life of their campus as an alternative to one-time crisis response efforts in stemming school violence. This presentation was complemented by that of Alison Lehmann of the Orange County Human Relations Commission who presented on their "Bridges: School Inter-Cultural Relations Program," as well as that of Angela Chan of the Asian Law Caucus whose presentation, "Know Your Rights: Bias-related School Harassment and Violence," educates on the specific laws protecting against discrimination in schools as well as the procedure by which to file a complaint should one of these laws and the rights they protect be violated.
Finally, Senior Consultant and Commission Hate Crime Coordinator Marshall Wong presented on
"Tracking and Preventing Hate Violence" in which he conveyed insight that might be gained from
tracking hate crimes via statewide and local statistics and how gathering such data can assist
state-wide human relations commissions in garnering resources as well as in partnering with law
enforcement, schools, and communities to prevent violence motivated by prejudice.
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Our Mission As one of the oldest and largest human relations agencies of its kind
in the United States, the Los Angeles County Commission on Human Relations
serves one of the largest and most diverse populations in the country
in addressing the human relations needs through its commitment to: fostering
harmonious and equitable inter-group relations,
Strategic Priorities & Goals The Human Relations Commission seeks to harness the strengths of culturally diverse Los Angeles communities by strategically engaging schools, community organizations, law enforcement, faith communities, local governments, youth and major institutions in intergroup relations initiatives...more
L.A. County Commission On Human Relations, L.A. City And County Departments Of Parks And Recreation And Partners Receive A National Award For Teens Make A Difference Day For it leadership coordinating Teens Make A Difference Day 2007, a countywide day of volunteer and community service, the Human Relations Commission and eight other agencies and non-profit partners were selected as one of ten National Award recipients by USA Weekend Magazine and Points of Light Foundation. At its April 22, 2008 meeting, the Board of Supervisors presented scrolls to Robin Toma, Executive Director of the Human Relations Commission, Russ Guiney, Executive Director of L.A. Dept. of Parks and Recreations and representatives of Connect LA, L.A. City Department of Recreation and Parks - Class Parks Program, LAUSD Health Education Programs, LAUSD Beyond the Bell branch, L.A. Junior Chamber of Commerce and L.A. Conservation Corps Clean n Green program...More
Juan Huezo - A 2008 L.A. County Volunteer of the Year Juan Huezo was honored by the L.A. County Board of Supervisors, as a 2008 L.A. County Volunteer of the Year, at a luncheon on Monday, April 21, for his leadership of HRC's coordinating role on Teens Make A Difference Day in October 2007, which received a national award from USA Weekend Magazine and $10,000 prize from Newman's Own Foundation. Juan was joined by his parents, Juan José and Albertina Huezo as well as his sister, Claudia. Para información sobre La Comisión de Relaciones Humanas, o de acciones o actividades para mejorar relaciones humanas en el condado, por favor oprima aquí.
Tribute to A Human Relations Hero Alan T. Kroner was a bridge-builder between diverse groups of people, and this became invaluable in his work as chairperson of the Human Relations Mutual Assistance Consortium, and as a member of the California Association of Hate Crime Investigators... more Posters are free of charge, courtesy of Sempra Energy and Southern California Gas Company. If you would like to receive posters for a school, program, or youth organization, please contact Caroline Hata, at (213) 974-7635 or chata@hrc.lacounty.gov
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