No Place For Hate®

Last night, I attended a meeting of the newly-established Fitchburg “No Place for Hate®” (NPFH) campaign. NPFH® is a nationwide effort created by the Anti-Defamation League to foster inclusive community environments. There are approximately sixty cities and towns in Massachusetts participating in the program, including Lexington, Melrose, New Bedford, Peabody, Watertown, Wellesley, and Worcester.

The meeting was facilitated by a representative from the Massachusetts NPFH® organization. Meeting attendees included city residents, a youth sports coach, several religious leaders, a city councilor, and representatives from the Human Rights Commission, the Fitchburg Police Department, Fitchburg State College, Neighborhoods and You, Cleghorn Neighborhood Center, and the Fitchburg School Board.

Fitchburg has declared its intentions to participate in the NPFH® program, and the next step is to begin organizing community activities related to the theme of understanding diversity. The group reviewed existing NPFH® programming suggestions and brainstormed an array of events that would be appropriate to arrange in our city. The decision was made to focus on developing a partnership with the school system to encourage students to interview members of different cultures, a graffiti “paint out” program, diversity-related parade floats and activities in association with Fitchburg’s July Civic Days celebration, and a “pot-luck” ethnic food dinner. At the next meeting, it will be determined to which of these events initial planning priority will be directed.

In addition to discussing future events, the group spoke of the importance of cataloging existing activities within the city that fit within the principles of the NPFH® program. There was also talk regarding options for publicizing NPFH® and related activities. The value of establishing relationships with local media outlets, such as Fitchburg Pride and FATV, was highlighted by many at the meeting. Efforts will also be made to create other communication outlets, such as a newsletter and blog.

Ultimately, last night’s meeting provided an outstanding glimpse of what our community can accomplish under the auspices of the NPFH® program. However, success is dependent upon the involvement of as many people as possible, and all present agreed that we would love to have additional members of the community attend future meetings. So to anyone out there reading this, I would strongly encourage you to join us at the next meeting, which has been scheduled for Thursday, March 15, at 6:00 p.m. in the library at Memorial Middle School (615 Rollstone Street). Feel free to send me an email (address available in my profile) if you have any questions. In addition, I will soon be creating a separate blog to post meeting minutes and other NPFH® information, and I will post a link here when that has been set up. I hope to meet many of you next month!

[Addendum: The NPFH® blog can now be accessed at www.noplaceforhate.blogspot.com. Oh, and my apologies for having to use the ® symbol all over the place - just trying to avoid getting sued! I promise though, the group is very welcoming...]