Community organizations honored as Best Practices

February 21, 2006

During the fifteenth Racial Legacies and Learning: How to Talk About Race town meeting to be held Feb. 23 with featured speaker Donna Brazile, 12 community organizations and businesses will be honored for their best practices in promoting diversity.

Those to be honored are the African American Theatre Company of Butler County, Butler County ESC Head Start, the Fitton Center for Creative Arts, the Great Miami Valley YMCA, Madison Elementary School in Hamilton, Miami University Hamilton Diversity Committee, Miami University Hamilton Minority Action Committee, Pierce Elementary School in Hamilton and Wilson Middle School in Hamilton.

These organizations will be recognized during the town meeting, which begins at 7pm in Parrish Auditorium. The event is free and open to the public.

The Racial Legacies committee is especially pleased to be recognizing these 12 organizations from the local area with Best Practices award. “It is important to recognize those organizations in the community that are doing what needs to be done to promote diversity and to make a real difference,” according to Jimmie Jones, co-chair and special assistant to the campus dean for diversity at Miami Hamilton.

Highlighting the evening is the keynote address by Brazile, who is chair of the Democratic National Committee’s Voting Rights Institute and an adjunct professor of Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., will discuss "Race, Class and Politics." In particular, Brazile, who is a veteran political strategist and a native of New Orleans, will discuss the impact of race and class on rebuilding plans after Hurricane Katrina. In addition, as the former campaign manager for Gore-Lieberman 2000, Brazile will address her reasons for why people of color should vote, as well as the effects of “white privilege” on mainstream politics.

This fifteenth town meeting is presented by Miami University Hamilton, the City of Hamilton Department of Human Relations, the Miami University Center for American and World Cultures, and 30 additional sponsoring agencies. The meeting begins with Brazile’s keynote address and includes time for audience discussion. “Community partnerships have been the key to the success of Racial Legacies since its inception in 1999,” according to Bob Rusbosin, co-chair and associate dean of Miami Hamilton and director of student services. “Our goal all along has been to create opportunities for community dialogue about race relations.”