By Marion Helland and Natela Jordan

“Ignore your rights and they’ll go away,” comments Sonia Nieto, Amherst College professor and author. This message alerts human rights advocates and activists today, and also inspired people during the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s. In the mid 1960s, Minnesotans organized what later became the Minnesota Department of Human Rights. One by one, local Human Rights Commissions were formed. Citizens in approximately 50 Minnesota cities have joined together to work to ensure that human rights do not go away. Most local Human Rights Commissioners are volunteers, and serve on Commissions because they believe it is their civic duty to promote and protect human rights in their communities.

Local Human Rights Commissioners develop programs such as bias/hate crime response and prevention plans, essay contests, community forums and workshops, human rights award plans, and responses to mainly local and state human rights issues. In some cases, Human Rights Commissions have also worked on national and global human rights developments. Educating the public about human rights is an ongoing endeavor, and Human Rights Commissioners know that the battle for human rights is never fully won, and every new generation must be ready to continue the struggle. Craig Kielburger, who began his human rights work at age 12 when he read of the hardships of child laborers in Pakistan, reminds all: “We must never forget that historically, it is young people who have been at the forefront of the great social justice movements.” This message is at the heart of the K-12 statewide human rights curriculum This is My Home: A Minnesota Human Rights Education Experience in K- 12 Schools (www.thisismyhome.org)

On October 1, 2006, pilot teams of Human Rights Commissioners from Minneapolis, St. Cloud, Duluth, Grand Rapids, Moorhead, and Rochester met at the University of Minnesota Human Rights Center to explore ways of making This is My Home a stronger and more dynamic initiative for Human Rights Education. The Human Rights Center received a grant from the Otto Bremer Foundation to engage Human Rights Commissions in six Minnesota cities in integrating This is My Home into the school curriculum and other school-wide activities, as well as documenting and evaluating its impact in 12 local schools. Human Rights Commissions can provide very important structural links between the youth and schools in driving Human Rights Education forward. The Commissions will network with schools participating in This is My Home, play a leadership role in their communities, become more visible, and receive additional training and support from the Human Rights Center and other community partners.

To provide adequate financial support to community members working to integrate This is My Home into their programs and operations, the Human Rights Center established a Human Rights Action Fund with financial support from the Otto Bremer Foundation. This Fund will assist these six communities to integrate the This is My Home curriculum and tools into both schools and community initiatives to promote and protect human rights. Human Rights Action Funds will be awarded to Human Rights Commissions and This is My Home schools to create effective Human Rights Action Projects. This fund will provide a unique means of integrating school learning about human rights with hands-on activities in the community. Through HR Action Projects, students can more deeply understand the meaning of human rights in their own lives and the lives of others in their community.

If you are interested in learning more about the This is My Home project or the cooperation between schools and Human Rights Commissions, please contact your local Human Rights Commission or the University of Minnesota Human Rights Center.

By Natela Jordan

This is My Home:

Human Rights Education and Community Building Workshop

October 2006

Dear Educators and Community Members:

It is with enthusiasm and pride that the Diversity Council and the Olmsted County Human Rights Commission endorse the pilot project of the This is My Home, A Minnesota Human Rights Education Experience curriculum. The mission of the Diversity Council is to create an inclusive and welcoming community through education; and The Olmsted County Human Rights Commission responds proactively to diversity issues within the county.

When like-minded groups work together, we naturally extend our missions; strengthen our community spirit and model cooperation. There are many intersections between the discussion of human rights and the discussion of valuing human difference and the ultimate elimination of the barriers to both.

As educators and community members, having as many tools as possible for creating respectful school communities can only be a positive. The Diversity Council and the Human Rights Commission view this pilot project as a terrific complement/follow-up to existing Diversity Council programming and an excellent path for continuing the message of inclusion in your school communities.

Please consider joining this exciting training opportunity. Thanks, this investment of your time will be time well spent. Please call or email Natela Jordan with any questions you may have:

Natela Jordan
Education Coordinator
University of Minnesota Human Rights Center
and Human Rights Resource Center
N-120 Mondale Hall
229 19th Ave. So.
Mpls., MN 55455
Tel: 612-625-2857
E-mail: jorda274@umn.edu
http://www.thisismyhome.org

Very Sincerely Yours,

Kay Hocker
Executive Director
Diversity Council

Gayle L. Kall
Chair
Olmsted County Human Rights Commission

Youth for Human Rights International (YHRI)
www.youthforhumanrights.org

Youth for Human Rights International (YHRI) is an independent non-profit corporation headquartered in Los Angeles, with the purpose of educating young people about the Universal Declaration of Human Rights so they become valuable advocates for tolerance and peace. YHRI holds events and produces instructional tools to raise human rights awareness such as the award-winning music video UNITED – a street-savvy, multi-ethnic, five-minute film in 15 languages – conveying the power of human rights awareness.

Youthrive (Upper Midwest Affiliate of PeaceJam International)
www.youthrive.net

The vision of Youthrive is peaceful and just communities where young people are recognized and valued. The mission of Youthrive is to engage young people with adults in strengthening leadership and peace-building skills. The purpose of Youthrive is to:

* Inspire and engage youth and adults through education, leadership and service to integrate peacemaking activities into their lives, their communities and the world:
* Provide opportunities and experiences for all youth to engage in civic dialogue and civic action on issues of social justice, human rights, non-violence and anti-racism;
* Reduce the barriers and foster connections for the full and authentic engagement of all youth in addressing community concerns.
* Create an environment that values youth voice.

 

Reading and Writing for Critical Thinking
www.rwct.org

In 1997, the International RWCT Program began promoting concepts and methods for active learning and critical thinking to classrooms throughout the world. Since then, more than 50,000 teachers and 2 million students in 32 countries have taken part in the program, which was originally sponsored by the Open Society Institute, and coordinated by the International Reading Association, the University of Northern Iowa, and Hobart and William Smith Colleges.

The teachers in the RWCT project believe that opportunities for preparing students for citizenship in open societies are more likely to be found in the “how” of education than in the “what”. That is, the means to democratic citizenship resides less in studying the content of subjects like civics or political science than in the daily conduct of classroom instruction - the opportunities that are provided for cooperative work, decision making, critical thinking, opinion formation, and debate.