South Orange/Maplewood Community Coalition on Race

The Community Coalition on Race through its Schools Committee is at the forefront of efforts to address and eliminate the academic achievement gap as an essential element of our effort to create true integration among and within our schools. We work to encourage alliances between the public and private sectors to foster the development of successful educational partnerships among teachers, administrators, parents, students, researchers, business and community organizations. We promote parental involvement and empowerment and work to ensure that students of all races are expected and encouraged to excel in a community that is proud and supportive of our schools

The mission of the South Orange/Maplewood Community Coalition on Race is to benefit the residents of our two-town community by developing and implementing strategies to:
-Promote strong and sustained demand by all racial groups for housing in every area of our community;
-Replace racially separate and unequal markets for community living with balanced and robust markets within our area of influence and beyond the community
The objectives of the South Orange/Maplewood Community Coalition’s Marketing Program is to affirmatively market the two towns.

Participation in school, civic, governmental and business organizations by people of all races and persuasions is a necessary condition for a truly inclusive, racially integrated community. Our quality of life is improved by the innovative solutions, shared responsibility, expanded talent pool and increased sense of a united community that results from full engagement of all groups. The graduates of the CEI commit to a minimum of 6 months of volunteer service in a local organization. We ran our first CEI in the fall of 2013 with great success. The 14 participants gave high praise for the level of training they received; two have already started new neighborhood associations. We have received inquiries about participation in 2014 from new students.
Project Goal: to provide training and education in order to increase interest, participation, comfort level, and probability for success among underrepresented groups in our community in volunteer and leadership roles in civic, government, and community organizations.
CEI Objectives:
• Provide a series of training and educational workshops for prospective volunteers that incorporate presentations by local professionals and government leaders, case studies, group discussions, skills assessment tools, and interactive techniques.
• Engage 15-20 participants from Maplewood and South Orange
• Offer six two-hour workshops that include:
1. Introduction to Volunteerism and Time Management Tips
2. Understanding Volunteer Styles
3. The Volunteer as Advocate and Participant in the Change Process
4. Situational Case Studies
5. Government & Organization Structures
6. Service Organization Leaders Presentations & Closing Ceremony

Project Goal: provide low-cost loans for home maintenance to support and sustain stable, integrated neighborhoods in both towns.
Objectives:
• Design and distribute brochures
• Advertise loan availability
• Make from 6 up to 15 loans within the identified census tracts
Description: The Community Coalition on Race from its very inception has included a strong focus on residential integration: people of different races living in every neighborhood throughout the towns. In 2013, we developed a new loan program for home maintenance and improvement costs. A stable neighborhood is one where residents and potential homebuyers feel confident that their investment is secure. Improved property maintenance contributes to neighborhood stabilization.

Conversations on Race
Project Goal: Host two community conversations on the topic ‘Understanding Our Collective Biases,’ beginning with one led by an outside expert or a panel in the area of race relations, community healing, and implicit bias
Conversations Objectives:
• Engage at least 80 residents in conversation about race-related topic relevant to our community
• Bridge racial barriers
• Provide safe space to examine the concept of implicit bias
• Address the following questions:
 What is implicit bias
 What can we as a community do to combat implicit bias
 How can people address their own racial biases
 Whether all people in our community feel safe in light of recent racial incidents

Description: After George Zimmerman was found not guilty of manslaughter charges in the killing of Trayvon Martin, President Obama asked Americans to have thoughtful conversations about race and its impact on our lives. For over 10 years the Coalition on Race has engaged the community in discussions about how we face race, how we build relationships across racial and cultural barriers, and how our perceptions of race affect our day-to-day experience in our towns. Conversations on Race is an annual event that serves part of the Community Coalition on Race’s mission to provide residents with opportunities to engage in honest dialogue between racial groups.

Kids notice race from an early age but many parents are afraid to discuss race openly with their children. How can we talk about race productively? How do these talks differ for families of different races, for adoptive families, for mixed-race families? These workshops strive to help parents, teachers gain an understanding of the stages of racial knowledge, how to talk with children about race, and understand the challenges faced by multiracial children and children whose families are of a different racial background, and more.