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Community Building
Events, Opportunities & News:
OC Human Relations Convenes Fullerton Task Force on Homelessness and Mental Health Services
Created by the Fullerton City Council Sept 20, 2011 with a lifespan of 6 to 8 months. Read the Fullerton Observer newspaper article.
Purpose:
Assess the state of homelessness in Fullerton and survey the mental health services currently available in order to make recommendations to the City Council on how our city could better meet the needs of the severely mentally ill homeless men and women on our streets.
Objectives:
1. Host forums to solicit public input;
2. Prepare a base assessment of homelessness in Fullerton and survey mental health services available to residents of Fullerton and surrounding Orange County communities, including services offered by the City, the County of Orange, non-profit organizations, the faith based community, and other public or private organizations.
3. Identify best practices relative to homelessness and mental health currently observed in other communities.
4. Identify possible steps the City could take to build upon the homelessness and mental health services already available.
5. Make recommendations to the City Council for further action.
Meeting Time, Place & Structure
4:00pm till 6:00pm on the First and Third Thursday of each month at the Fullerton Public Library Community Room.
- Open Meetings: Involvement in the task force meetings will be made broadly available to interested residents, as members and/or as occasional participants
- Public Comments: All meetings will be open to the public and include a portion of the agenda where the public can address the Task Force.
- Educational Presentations on the issues of mental illness and homelessness.
Task Force recommendations will be made to the City Council at the conclusion of its assessment. For more information please contact Rusty Kennedy, Executive Director, at 714.567.7470. You can review agendas and meeting minutes here.
OC Human Relations Collaborates on Santa Ana Community Forum on Cultural Diversity and Conflict
The forum, organized by Mayor Pro Tem Claudia Alvarez, took place Thursday, October 27 and was an effort to build understanding and respect between Latino and Jewish communities. Also involved were the American Jewish Committee, Anti-Defamation League and the Latino-Jewish Coalition. See the City of Santa Ana Media Release for more details. Also, read the OC Register article on the event.
A Decade after 9/11... Commission Listens to Sikhs and Muslims Tell Their Stories
 On the tenth anniversary of the worst domestic terrorist attack in the United States' history the Orange County Human Relations Comm ission offers condolences to the families and friends of the victims who were wounded or died in those attacks, and to the first responders who gave their lives trying to save lives in the aftermath of the attack.
Over the past nine months the Commission has researched the status of groups targeted by hate crimes in the months after 9/11. The outreach focused on the Muslim and Sikh communities in Orange County, as they had previously reported concerns to the Commission. Read the the full report of these Listening Sessions and/or the Listening Sessions Press Release.
Programs & Services:
OC Human Relations has a long history of working with diverse Orange County communities, helping them navigate the challenges that demographic changes present as well as dealing with the resistance and conflict that can arise amongst different communities. We envision and create a future where everyone is valued, included and respected by:
- Creating awareness and understanding of diversity and social justice issues
- Addressing large scale community conflicts and challenges
- Bringing people, organizations and institutions together to get to know each other through dialogue and to create sustainable community solutions
- Empowering people to have a voice in the decision-making processes of institutions that impact their lives
- Developing creative initiatives and strategies to address human relations issues
Our Key Areas of Work:
OC Human Relations has been building understanding and respect through dialog initiatives aimed at bringing diverse groups  together such as faith groups, police and communities, parents and neighbors for over 35 years. In 1992, OC Human Relations created a project called Orange County Together as a response to the civic unrest in Los Angeles during the LA Riots by bringing together diverse community grassroots organizations, business, educational and religious leaders in a collaboration that incorporated thousands of people and hundreds of groups in a process to prevent the community disintegration that was at the heart of the riots. Following the attacks of September 11, 2001 OC Human Relations once again launched a comprehensive campaign to build understanding, respect and healing, especially amongst diverse faiths which engaged over 1500 Orange County residents. We continuously use dialogue as a key tool in our work to address challenging community concerns throughout Orange County. We can also provide materials and facilitator trainings to lead intercultural, interfaith or neighborhood dialogues and can design curriculum for communities wanting to explore community issues at a deeper level.
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OC Human Relations offers comprehensive diversity training that promotes the understanding and contributions of immigrants, gays and lesbians, disabled, African-American, Latino, Anglo, Jewish, Asian, Muslim and other groups that have been the victims of discrimination throughout our country’s history. Additionally, we offer custom tailored trainings and presentations in the areas of diversity, intercultural communication, gender, identity, conflict resolution, team building and other human relations topics.
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OC Human Relations continues to advocate in a variety of ways from leading coalitions to assist victims of immigration fraud, increasing public awareness through social justice educational campaigns, working with government agencies to develop protocols and policies, promoting human relations by supporting other organizations serving low-income diverse communities and assuring ethnic minority communities have a voice in the institutions that effect their lives. The Orange County Human Relations Commission has addressed issues such as civil liberties, immigration, police practices, discrimination, housing and education. We strive to create change by eliminating prejudice, discrimination and racism of ALL people.
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OC Human Relations works to create safe and inclusive communities by partnering with cities, hospitals and other agencies to facilitate community change efforts in disenfranchised, under-represented communities to build community capacity, community leadership, empower residents to problem solve, have a voice and work collectively toward community systems change.
OC Human Relations uses the following community building processes to build capacity in neighborhoods and communities:
- community centered and participative decision making
- strengthening collaboration and relationships
- building social capital by strengthening ties and trust among stakeholders
- focusing on capacities and assets of communities and individuals
- strengthening civic engagement and community advocacy
- addressing deep-rooted issues of racism and discrimination
 We provide capacity building technical assistance in the areas of Leadership Development, Organizational Development, Community Assessment and Problem Solving, Strategic Planning and Community Engagement.
Over the past few years OC Human Relations has been working with city representatives, local hospitals and agencies to develop a community collaborative and a Community Building Initiative to find solutions to San Clemente’s disenfranchised neighborhood’s deep-seated, chronic social problems. Read more about the Communities For All Ages initiative in the Los Mares and Central San Clemente neighborhoods. Click here to visit the Communities For All Ages website.
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Community Leadership Training: OC Human Relations is a certified trainer for the Pew Foundation for Civic Change  Curriculum and has offered this training to communities throughout Orange County. We also custom tailor leadership trainings for communities in both Spanish and English.
Through our Parent Leadership Program, OC Human Relations has trained over 1500 minority parents throughout Orange County school districts to help parents navigate the school system and be advocates for their children’s education. We also offer a Parent Leadership Institute Training of Trainers with the purchase of our curriculum for groups of 20 or more available in Spanish and English.
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For more information about any of our services please contact Alison Edwards, Deputy Director, at 714.567.7566.
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