This information accompanies an article coming soon in our August issue of Initiatives magazine. These are local community resources that may help in your conversations about diversity and inclusion in your workplace or group.
All African People’s Development & Empowerment Project (AAPDEP)
Kobina Bantushango, International Membership Coordinator
[email protected]
www.developmentforafrica.org
The All African People’s Development & Empowerment Project (AAPDEP) is a non-profit 501c(3) membership based organization with a three-fold focus on education, agriculture, and healthcare. AAPDEP offers African farmers, doctors, nurses, teachers, scientists, engineers, and other skilled Africans an opportunity to contribute our skills toward the development of practical, community-based programs in African communities around the world.
Citizens Coalition for Criminal Justice Reform (CCCJ)
Angela Curry, Liaison
256.527.1013
Facebook: Citizens Coalition for Criminal Justice Reform
Citizens Coalition for Criminal Justice Reform seeks to insure city leaders are doing their part for criminal justice reform. The group has written out 10 expectations they want city and county leaders to start. The coalition wants all law enforcement agencies in Madison County to explain to the public how they handle officers who show signs of racial bias, and explain to the public how they screen candidates for racial bias and establish a third party panel of community members that would review standard operating procedures for dealing with evidence of racism.
City of Huntsville – Office of Multicultural Affairs
Kenny Anderson, Multicultural Affairs Officer
256.883.3993
[email protected]
www.huntsvilleal.gov
The City of Huntsville’s Office of Multicultural Affairs, established by Mayor Tommy Battle, serves as the administration’s point of contact for the diverse cultures that reside within the city boundaries. The vision is to encourage understanding and goodwill, and to promote community engagement, multicultural education, leadership development and social justice education between and among Huntsville’s international citizens and those native-born to our community. Our mission is to foster an environment that reflects the equal treatment and participation of all segments of Huntsville’s diverse, culturally rich communities in civic, economic, educational and social development. Multicultural Affairs is charged with developing partnerships, programs and services with local City agencies to create a vibrant and inclusive community. Outreach includes maintaining partnerships with community, religious groups, neighborhoods, civic and home owners associations.
Faith In Action Network (FAN)
Stephanie Strong, Coordinator
[email protected]
www.faithinaction.org
A multi-faith, multi-racial organization that works to honor God by achieving systemic change to create pathways of opportunity for all Alabamians. With local congregational hubs in Birmingham, Huntsville, Mobile, and Montgomery, create a statewide grassroots interfaith, interracial faith-rooted organization that will build and wield power that leads to bold public decisions at the local and state levels that honor the dignity of all of God’s children. A collaborative leadership model will anchor this organization. Only an interracial, interfaith organization committed to shared leadership will possess the needed strength and wisdom to spearhead systemic change in Alabama.
Greater Huntsville Interdenominational Ministerial Fellowship (GHIMF)
Reverend Dr. Mitchell Walker, Sr.
[email protected]
www.ghimf.org
The Greater Huntsville Interdenominational Ministerial Fellowship (GHIMF) is a fellowship of ministers from numerous Christian faiths across Huntsville and the Tennessee Valley. Their mission is to unite to spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ and to serve the greater community through the following goals: to identify and address areas in our community that are spiritually, morally and socially deficient; to formulate programs that will foster cooperative worship experiences among congregations; and to establish a permanent forum for ministerial interaction.
Heritage Solutions, LLC
Dr. Darrell Ezell, Principal Owner
256.508.2482
[email protected]
www.hsllcfirm.com
Darrell is a highly regarded international consultant, educator, connector, and strategist. His expertise in international affairs and civic engagement is demonstrated in projects he has led in the public and private sectors. With time spent in higher education, government, and non-profit management, Darrell is skilled in business strategy, planning, education technology, and more. His knowledge in international relations has led to him serving as an U.N. Global Expert and his commitment to inter-cultural relations has received official recognition by the Vatican from Cardinal Jean Louis Tauran of Pontificium Consilium Pro Dialogo Interreligiones.
Human Relations Commission (HRC)
Aladin Beshir, Chair
256.479.7221
[email protected]
The mission of the Human Relations Commission: “Recognizing the strength derived from our diversity through the promotion of mutual understanding, dignity, respect and cooperation among all residents of the City of Huntsville to discourage and prevent discriminatory practices.” The duties and powers include resolving complaints brought by citizens and articulating community needs to foster the kinds of social change needed to make the City a better place for all citizens. It also works to establish procedures and conduct mediation/conciliation when conflict concerning good human relations arise. It disseminates information and educational materials to assist in the elimination of prejudice, intolerance, inter-group tension and discrimination.
Huntsville Chapter of SCLC (Southern Christian Leadership Conference)
Pastor Gregory Bentley, President (Senior Pastor, Fellowship Presbyterian Church)
256.539.2418
www.nationalsclc.org
SCLC’s focus is to educate youth and adults in the areas of personal responsibility, leadership potential, and community service; to ensure economic justice and civil rights and to eradicate racism wherever it exists.
The very beginnings of the SCLC can be traced back to the Montgomery Bus Boycott. The Montgomery Bus Boycott began on December 5, 1955 after Rosa Parks was arrested for refusing to give up her seat to a white man on the bus. The boycott lasted for 381 days and ended on December 21, 1956, with the desegregation of the Montgomery bus system.
Huntsville Reach (REACHsv)
REACHsv began as a series of community discussions in 2016. REACHsv helped organize around criminal justice reform and developed training programs to address implicit bias. Over the last two years, REACHsv’s fight has continued in the work of each of its directors.
For updates follow and share our new page: https://www.facebook.com/REACHsv-113272407071927
Interfaith Mission Service
Aladin Beshir, Chair
256.479.7221
[email protected]
www.interfaithmissionservice.org
Fifty years after its establishment, the Interfaith Mission Service (IMS) remains
committed to the vision of: becoming leaders in building a Beloved Community and helping to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s global vision of a world where all people can share in the wealth of the earth. IMS seeks to: address the causes of poverty, hunger, and homelessness: replace racism in all its forms with a spirit of sisterhood and brotherhood, resolve disputes through peaceful, non-violent means; and eliminate obstacles to economic justice and equity.
Madison County Remembrance Project
The Equal Justice Initiative (EJI’s) Community Remembrance Project partners with community coalitions to memorialize documented victims of racial violence throughout history and foster meaningful dialogue about race and justice today. The Community Soil Collection Project gathers soil at lynching sites for display in haunting exhibits bearing victims’ names. The Historical Marker Project erects narrative markers in public locations describing the devastating violence, today widely unknown, that once took place in these locations. These projects and the other engagement efforts that community coalitions develop, center the African American experience of racial injustice, empower African American community members who have directly borne this trauma, and invite the entire community to use truth to give voice to those experiences and expose their legacies.
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), Huntsville-Madison County Chapter
Jerry Burnet, President
256.585.1915
[email protected]
www.naacp.org
Founded in 1909 in response to the ongoing violence against Black people around the country, the NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People) is the largest and most pre-eminent civil rights organization in the nation. We have over 2,200 units and branches across the nation, along with well over 2M activists. Our mission is to secure the political, educational, social, and economic equality of rights in order to eliminate race-based discrimination and ensure the health and well-being of all persons.
Tennessee Valley Progressive Alliance
256.384.4859 and 256.469.1731
[email protected]
www.valleyprogressives.org
The Tennessee Valley Progressive Alliance is a grassroots organization in Huntsville and surrounding areas of North Alabama and Southern Middle Tennessee. They fight for progressive change by uniting community members and organizations to build political power, economic security, and quality of life for the 99%.
The Coalition for Justice Through Civic Engagement (on Facebook)
Dr. Tonya Perry, Professor & Chairperson- Social Work, Psychology & Counseling
AAMU-College of Education, Humanities and Behavioral Sciences
256.372.8356
[email protected]
The Coalition for Justice through Civic Engagement (CJCE) was birthed to fill the need for a central coordinating mechanism through which faith communities, Greek-Letter, civic and service organizations, social clubs, businesses, institutions of higher learning and other entities central to the Black community of Greater Huntsville, may pool their efforts in realizing meaningful social change.
United Women of Color (UWOC)
Angela Curry, (Executive Director)
256.527.1013
[email protected]
www.unitedwoc.org
As a diverse 501(c)(3) organization, United Women of Color create and foster opportunities of advancement and empowerment. We build and shape the development of our communities by cultivating civic engagement, grassroots outreach, and providing community services to improve the lives of women, girls and families. Each member individually and collectively has a responsibility to care for and develop families and communities and as women, they are all empowered to assume duties and responsibilities and assert rights and privileges. UWOC believes that lives can be transformed and changed through involvement with 4 areas of service: civic engagement, education, income and self-sufficiency and community outreach in partnership with other organizations.
University of Alabama-Huntsville (UAH) Office of Equity, Diversity & Inclusion (OEDI)
Laterrica Shelton, VP, DEI, Director of Compliance, Title IX Coordinator
UAH Office of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion
[email protected]
https://www.uah.edu/diversity
To strengthen diversity at UAH, the ODEI is committed to improving social and cultural awareness and encouraging self-understanding through education, training, and engagement with others. By offering enriching programs that promote cross-cultural perspectives and create mutual opportunities for exchange, UAH-ODEI hopes to foster an inclusive environment for people of all races, ethnicities, cultures, ages, religions, languages, abilities, genders, and sexual orientations.