The descriptions below were written by the respective organizations,
which are grouped as either "Partnering Organizations"-those with whom
one might put on a dialogue-or "Educational Resource Organizations"-those
offering additional information that may be helpful to organizing and
conducting an effective dialogue. The Directory is not intended to
capture every organization engaged in this type of work, but to serve as
a starting point for those seeking dialogue and related resources.
Partnering Organizations
Anti-Defamation League
823 United Nations Plaza
New York, NY 10017
Tel: 212/490-2525. Fax: 212/867-0779.
Webpage: www.adl.org
The Anti-Defamation League (ADL), founded in 1913, is the world's leading
organization fighting anti-Semitism through programs and services that
counteract prejudice, bigotry, and all forms of bias-motivated hatred.
The ADL Materials Resource Center offers extensive materials on
prejudice, discrimination, ethnicity, stereotyping, and scapegoating. It
also offers other tools designed to help schools and communities teach
and learn about diversity and enhance understanding of different groups.
The ADL Education Division and its A World of Difference Institute offer
prejudice-reduction training for schools, colleges and universities, the
workplace, and the community.
Hope in the Cities
1103 Sunset Avenue
Richmond, VA 23221
Tel: 804/358-1764. Fax: 804/358-1769.
E-mail: Hopecities@aol.com
Hope in the Cities is an interracial, multifaith national network which
seeks to encourage a process of healing through honest conversations on
race, reconciliation, and responsibility. It focuses specifically on the
acknowledgment and healing of racial history, the sustaining of dialogues
involving people of all races and viewpoints, and the acceptance of
personal responsibility for the process of change. Hope in the Cities
assists communities in building diverse coalitions with people in
business, government, media, education, and religious and community
organizations. Resources include a video, Healing the Heart of America,
and a dialogue series based on A Call to Community, which has been
endorsed by more than 100 national and local leaders as a basis for
conversation. A recently produced Community Resource Manual documents
process steps and case studies.
National MultiCultural Institute
3000 Connecticut Avenue, NW
Suite 438
Washington, DC 20007
Tel: 202/483-0700. Fax: 202/483-5233.
E-mail: muci@rtmci.org
Webpage: www.nmci.org
The National MultiCultural Institute (NMCI) is a private, non-profit
organization founded in 1983 to promote understanding and respect among
people of different racial, ethnic, and cultural backgrounds. NMCI
provides a forum for discussing the critical issues of multiculturalism
through biannual conferences, diversity training and consulting, special
projects, resource materials, and a multilingual mental health referral
network. NMCI provides training and technical assistance on all aspects
of organizing and facilitating dialogue groups.
Study Circles Resource Center
697A Pomfret Street
P.O. Box 203
Pomfret, CT 06258
Tel: 860/928-2616. Fax: 860/928-3713.
E-mail: .
The goal of the Study Circles Resource Center (SCRC) is to advance
deliberative democracy and improve the quality of public life in the
United States. SCRC helps communities use study circles-small,
democratic, highly participatory discussions-to involve large numbers of
citizens in public dialogue and problem solving on critical issues such
as race, crime, education, youth issues, and American diversity Through
dialogue on matters of public concern, citizens gain ownership of issues
and see themselves as people who can effect change at the local level.
In the area of race relations, SCRC works with community leaders at every
stage of creating community wide study circle programs-helping organizers
network between communities, working to develop strong coalitions within
communities, and providing free discussion materials and comprehensive
technical assistance at no cost. More than 50 communities across the
nation are currently involved in p g and implementing study circle
programs on race relations. SCRC is a project of Topsfield Foundation.
Project Victory
1322 18th Street, NW #26
Washington, DC 20036
Tel: 202/822-8700.
Project Victory is an educational organization that provides training on
dialogue and conflict resolution for a wide variety of groups. Project
Victory has also helped to organize dialogues on race relations in many
locations around the country and was one of the main organizations that
helped to create National Days of Dialogue on Race Relations, which took
place in January 1998.
National Conference for Community and Justice
71 Fifth Avenue, Suite 1100
New York, NY 10003
Tel.: 212/206-0006. Fax: 212/255-6177.
Contact Person: Scott Marshall, Director of Program Services
The National Conference for Community and Justice (NCCJ), founded
as The National Conference of Christians and Jews in 1927, is a human
relations organization dedicated to fighting bias, bigotry, and racism
in America. NCCJ promotes understanding and respect among all races,
religions, and cultures through advocacy, conflict resolution, and
education. NCCJ has 65 regional offices in 35 states and the District
of Columbia. NCCJ works to accomplish its mission through four program
areas: Community, Workplace, Youth and Emerging Leadership, and Interfaith.
Sample NCCJ programs include Community Dialogues-forums taking place
at the local and regional level that create a space for honest and
open exchange of ideas on critical issues related to race and ethnicity
These are targeted at a cross section of leadership and grassroots
community members. Youth residential programs provide a set of experimental
activities for high school age youth aimed at reducing prejudice and
developing leadership skills.
YWCA of the U.S.A.
Office of Racial Justice and Human Rights
350 Fifth Avenue
Suite 301
New York, NY 10116
Tel: 212/273-7827. Fax: 212/273-7849.
The YWCA of the U.S.A. represents a chapter in women's history, the
history of the civil rights movement, and the history of the United
States itself. It operates in more than 4,000 locations throughout the
country in 400 associations in all 50 states. Its outreach extends
internationally through its membership in the World YWCA, at work in more
@ 90 countries. For decades, the YWCA has pioneered efforts to eliminate
racism through programs and advocacy The organization's vision of
empowering women through the elimination of racism and sexism remains its
driving force. The Office of Racial justice and Human Rights at the YWCA
of the U.S.A. provides resources, training, and technical assistance to
the local community and student YWCA associations to develop
collaborative programs and strategies with other organizations to
eliminate institutional racism at the local level in education, law
enforcement, housing, health care, finance, and other institutions. This
office also plays a key advocacy role at the federal level through its
nationwide events such as the "National Day of Commitment to Eliminate
Racism" and the "YWCA Week Without Violence."
Educational Resource
Organizations
U.S. Department of Justice
Community Relations Service
600 E Street, NW
Suite 2000
Washington, DC 20530
Tel: 202/305-2935. Fax: 202/305-3009.
The Community Relations Service (CRS), an arm of the U.S. Department of
justice, is a specialized federal conciliation service available to state
and local officials to help resolve and prevent racial and ethnic
conflict, violence, and civil disorder. When governors, mayors, police
chiefs, and school superintendents need help to defuse racial or ethnic
crises, they turn to CRS. For more than 30 years, CRS has been asked to
provide its experienced mediators to help local communities settle
destructive conflicts and disturbances relating to race, color, or
national origin. CRS relies solely on impartial mediation practices and
established conflict resolution procedures to help local leaders resolve
problems and restore community stability It has no law enforcement
authority and does not impose solutions, investigate or prosecute cases,
or assign blame or fault. CRS mediators are required by law to conduct
their activities in confidence, without publicity, and are prohibited
from disclosing confidential information.
Center for Living Democracy
289 Fox Farm Road
Brattleboro, VT 05301
Tel: 802/254-1234. Fax: 802/254-1227.
Webpage: www.livingdemocracy.org
The Center for Living Democracy (CLD) is a nonprofit organization that
seeks to strengthen our democracy by encouraging Americans to engage in
solving society's toughest problems. A national center through which
citizens learn from each other's trials and triumphs, CLD reaches
millions of Americans with compelling lessons to make their engagement
effective. CLD gathers and shares materials produced from direct
experience in communities across the nation and presents seminars and
workshops for organizations seeking to create more effective democratic
cultures. In October 1997, CLD published Bridging the Racial Divide: A
Report on Interracial Dialogue in America, the results of a year-long
survey of interracial dialogues occurring in more than 30 states. CLD
researchers interviewed more than 60 groups that use sustained,
community-based dialogue across the racial divide.
Educators for Social Responsibility
23 Garden Street
Cambridge, MA 02138
Tel: 1-800/370-2515. Fax: 617/ 864-5164.
E-mail: esrmain@igc.apc.org
Webpage: www.benjerry.com/esr
Educators for Social Responsibility's (ESR) primary mission is to help
young people develop the convictions and skills to shape a safe,
sustainable, and just world. ESR is a leading national center for staff
development, school improvement, curricular resources, and support for
schools, families, and children. ESR works with adults to advance
teaching social responsibility as a core practice in the schooling and
upbringing of children. ESR is recognized nationally for its leadership
in conflict resolution, violence prevention, intergroup relations, and
character education. The Resolving Conflict Creatively Program, an
initiative of ESR, is one of the largest
and longest-running programs in conflict resolution and intergroup
relations in the country.
Project Change
Tides Center
P.O. Box 29907
San Francisco, CA 94129
Tel: 415/561-6400.
Project Change is a funding initiative aimed at helping communities
reduce racial prejudice and improve race relations. Working closely with
community-based coalitions in selected communities, Project Change seeks
to develop locally driven strategies to reduce the incidence of racism as
well as to dismantle the institutional structures that sustain its
effects. In each community, the project begins with a planning stage,
bringing together a task force comprised of local citizens from the
public, private, and nonprofit sectors, reflective of the demographics of
the community. Then, the project moves into a three-year action phase,
followed by a two-year transition phase, if warranted.
National Coalition Building Institute
1835 K Street, NW Suite 201
Washington, DC 20006
Tel: 202/296-3610.
E-mail: ncbidc@aol.com
This organization engages mostly in doing workshops on prejudice
reduction and training in conflict resolution. It has expanded its
repertoire by using a system called controversial issue process to help
reduce differences by helping combatants "reframe the issue in a way that
builds bridges."
Teaching Tolerance
400 Washington Ave.
Montgomery, AL 36104
Tel: 334/264-0286. Fax: 334/264-3121.
Web site: www.splcenter.org
Teaching Tolerance, a project of the Southern Poverty Law Center,
produces a semi-annual magazine (free to teachers) and multimedia
resource materials (free to schools) to help educators address racial
narrow-mindedness. Recent titles include Starting Small: Teaching
Tolerance in Preschool and the Early Grades and The Shadow of Hate: A
History of Intolerance in America.
The Green Circle Program
1300 Spruce Street
Philadelphia, PA 19107
Tel: 215/893-8400. Fax: 215/ 735-9718.
The Green Circle Program, a national organization since 1957, promotes
respect, understanding, and acceptance of ethnic and racial diversity
through an intergroup education program that contributes to communication
skills, self-esteem, and responsibility Workshops are based on the
premise that recognizing and utilizing individual differences strengthens
the whole. The program works with all age groups and with anyone
interested in building skills for living effectively with human
differences. Green Circle uses interactive strategies that are
structured for elementary school-aged children and develops education
programs, workshops, and conferences for others who wish to address the
issue of living with human differences.
California Association of Human
Relations Organizations
965 Market Street
Suite 540
San Francisco, CA 94103
Tel: 415/543-9741. Fax: 415/543-9743.
The California Association of Human Relations Organizations (CAHRO),
founded in 1973, promotes full acceptance of all persons by conducting
activities to create a climate of respect and inclusion. CAHRO builds
and supports collaboration to reduce community tension and to build
intergroup relations. CAHRO is providing support and technical
assistance to enable communities to build organizational networks to
address bigotry and hate violence in California and beyond.
Public Dialogue Consortium
1522 Wells Drive
Albuquerque, NM 87112
Tel: 505/298-6616.
The Public Dialogue Consortium (PDC) is a nonprofit organization whose
purpose is to help individuals and groups find new and better ways of
communicating in a complex, dynamic, and diverse society PDC's special
interest is in developing better ways for the public to be involved in
dialogue with each other and with government officials about public
issues. For mom than two years, PDC has led a public dialogue process
about "cultural richness" and "community safety" in Cupertino,
California. In addition, PDC members have facilitated and taught
facilitation skills for public dialogue throughout the United States and
in other countries.
