West Region

In October 2019, CRS conducted an outreach presentation at a “gathering of principals” meeting at Anchorage School District headquarters. Following the presentation, South Anchorage High School administrators expressed interest in implementing the School-Student Problem Identification and Resolution of Issues Together (School-SPIRIT) program to teach students about conflict resolution and help prevent bias incidents and hate crimes at the school.

CRS received reports of widespread alleged bias incidents and racial conflict, including the use of racial slurs and student-on-student assaults, particularly against Latino, Black, and multiracial students in several Anchorage schools. Community members alleged that the racial conflict was a reaction to a recent influx of immigrants and refugees. The Greater Anchorage area is one of the most diverse in the country, with more than 100 languages spoken within its student population.3 This demographic shift heightened the ongoing and growing tensions that were negatively impacting the Anchorage School District.

CRS convened local school stakeholders to plan the School-SPIRIT program for South Anchorage High School, the first school in the state’s history to implement the program. CRS provided training to eight volunteer facilitators from the Alaska Native Justice Center, Bridge Builders of Anchorage, Polynesian Association of Alaska, Victims for Justice, and a local faith community and local non-governmental organization.

In February 2020, CRS facilitated the program over two days for approximately 90 Black, Asian American and Pacific Islander, white, Latino, and multiracial student leaders in grades nine through 12. A representative from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Alaska attended the program to observe and assist, as necessary. For the first session, participants divided into five groups to identify the school’s strengths and areas of concern, which included the widespread use of racial and ethnic slurs and bullying, reportedly without consequence, and a lack of focus on mental health.

On the second day of the program, South Anchorage High School leadership introduced a newly created SPIRIT council of students who committed to support implementing several of the solutions developed by student leaders in the small group sessions that day. Proposed solutions included raising awareness about resources for bullying prevention, conflict resolution and diversity training for teachers, and more opportunities for open dialogue in a safe and welcome environment.

After the program, student leaders expressed their gratitude toward the school administrators for bringing the program to their school to undertake difficult conversations as a unified school community. The SPIRIT council found the process valuable in addressing racial conflict and recommended that other schools in the district consider conducting the program.

A few days after the program, the SPIRIT council received an invitation to present their experience and involvement in the process to Anchorage School District leadership. Participation in CRS’s School-SPIRIT program helped South Anchorage High and other schools in Anchorage build the capacity to address similar conflicts and prevent the possible spread of bias incidents on their campuses.

The Seattle Police Department (SPD) expressed concerns to CRS over potential violence during a planned counter-protest after a local feminist advocacy group received approval to present their views at the Seattle Public Library, leading to increased conflict and widespread fear among the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer or Questioning (LGBTQ) community in Seattle. Many transgender activists and advocacy groups characterized the feminist group’s views, that rights should be based on biological sex at birth and not gender, as “hate speech,” and the group’s efforts to exclude transgender individuals, especially transgender women, from traditional female spaces, as discriminatory and non-inclusive towards LGBTQ communities. Despite the transgender community’s objection to the group’s presentation, the library approved its request. Failed efforts to cancel the event, coupled with hateful acts targeting the transgender community in southern Washington and the murder of a transgender 17-year-old in Vancouver, Washington, led the LGBTQ community groups to announce a counter-protest outside the library.

In January 2020, the SPD requested CRS services to help reduce tension and monitor the event for the possible outbreak of violence. CRS convened and facilitated two meetings with a planning group comprised of a local government representative, the SPD, a local transgender advocacy organization, and a social justice organization to discuss ways to reduce tensions associated with the scheduled protest. Based on CRS’s suggestion, the parties agreed that law enforcement would provide counter-protestors two opportunities to leave the event prior to issuing an arrest.

While monitoring the February 2020 event at the central campus of the library, CRS facilitated communications between law enforcement and the opposing parties – the local transgender advocacy organization and the feminist advocacy group. As the primary point of contact between these parties, CRS discussed issues and possible solutions to ensure a peaceful protest. Approximately 500 protestors, including LGBTQ communities and their allies, met, planned, and marched as a group to the library to protest the presence of the feminist advocacy group. Two hundred people attended the group’s presentation. CRS worked closely with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Washington, who had an Assistant U.S. Attorney on standby throughout the event to help clarify any first amendment issues, if necessary. CRS also developed a process to organize the flow of the event and control the movement of the attendees to avoid any perceptions of SPD bias in actions toward either party. During the protest, CRS monitored one square block with police escorts to assess danger points and suggested best practices.

After learning that some counter-protesters had bought tickets to the feminist advocacy group’s presentation inside the library, CRS suggested that the SPD announce its plan for handling disruptive audience members. When counter-protestors disrupted the event, the SPD gauged the level of disruption and took necessary action to remove them. SPD’s transparency in explaining the specific procedures and potential consequences prior to the presentation helped reduce tension among the crowd during the event. As a result, only three individuals were removed by the SPD; one was arrested and two were escorted outside the library to join the other protestors.

In September 2018, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Washington (USAOWDWA) requested CRS’s assistance to address a rise in community concerns and tensions following a series of vandalism, assaults, and arsons at places of worship in western Washington. Federal investigators found several of the incidents to be connected and determined that anti-religious bias motivated the attacks.

Washington law enforcement agencies investigated a series of attacks in 2017 and 2018 targeting Jehovah’s Witnesses throughout western Washington, including arsons at a place of worship in Tumwater, Washington and another in Olympia, Washington. Local law enforcement connected these incidents to an attempted arson and a suspicious device left at a place of worship in Yelm, Washington, where a gunman also shot at the facility in May 2018. Additionally, in Tacoma, Washington, a man entered a Buddhist temple and vandalized religious artifacts. The multiple attacks on places of worship concerned western Washington’s faith communities who feared escalation could include additional property destruction or even deaths. As a result, the faith communities wanted a mechanism for regular communications with law enforcement agencies, as well as resources to prevent vandalism and bias incidents at places of worship.

CRS convened a planning group, including representatives from the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS); USAO-WDWA; Federal Bureau of Investigation FBI); Seattle Police Department; and Tukwila Police Department, to organize an interfaith Protecting Places of Worship (PPOW) forum and facilitated dialogue. In October 2018, approximately 50 representatives from local and federal law enforcement agencies, faith communities, schools, and non-profit organizations participated in the program, which was designed to raise awareness about bias-motivated incidents and hate crimes, discuss available resources to address hate crimes, and improve police-community relations. Following the PPOW forum, CRS and the USAO-WDWA co-facilitated a dialogue with forum attendees to further address their concerns. During the dialogue, community members and faith leaders shared their successes in addressing bias incidents at their places of worship. Representatives from the area’s Jewish community discussed their usher training program and representatives from the Muslim community shared how they installed security technology. Additionally, CRS helped identify relevant resources from the FBI, DHS, and Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) for the community stakeholders.

The planning group decided to hold two PPOW forums annually to continue addressing the faith communities’ fears and tensions.

In December 2018, community leaders in Seattle, Washington’s Capitol Hill neighborhood alerted CRS that residents at the Summit at First Hill Jewish retirement community feared for their safety following the October 2018 Pittsburgh Tree of Life synagogue mass shooting. The Summit, the only Jewish retirement community in Washington state, includes an on-site synagogue.

In January 2019, CRS met with representatives from the retirement community who advised that a recent security breach and several trespassing incidents exacerbated community tension and members’ fears of a possible religious bias-based incident.

In response, CRS facilitated a Protecting Places of Worship (PPOW) forum in March 2018 at the Summit to address growing concerns that the community and the on-site synagogue could be the target of a hate crime. During the forum, residents and staff had the opportunity to ask questions regarding safety protocols for entering and exiting the community center. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and a state law enforcement agency instructed attendees on daily security best practices and how to respond to an active-shooter and other emergency situations.

In addition, CRS helped the Summit work with the local law enforcement to develop and sign a condition of entry security protocol regarding building access, evacuation drills, and armed intruders. The community also agreed to work with DHS to arrange a security inspection of the community and for DHS to provide safety and security education.

In April 2019, a local law enforcement agency requested that CRS help improve community awareness of hate crimes and how to report them. The agency perceived an underreporting of hate crimes affecting all of Anchorage Alaska’s diverse communities.

CRS conducted extensive outreach to Anchorage communities and city leaders throughout April 2019 that included a listening tour to understand the concerns affecting each of Anchorage’s communities and government agencies. During the listening tour, CRS met with Alaskan natives who shared concerns and fears caused by gender-motivated violence against women and Muslim community members who discussed fears and tensions in their community caused by hate crimes across the country. CRS held meetings with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Alaska (USAO-AK), the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and local organizations.

Both community members and government leaders expressed that they supported efforts to raise awareness of bias-motivated incidents and hate crimes. Community leaders representing the city’s diverse racial; immigrant; native; religious; and Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer or Questioning (LGBTQ) communities also expressed many of the same concerns, including the need for improving law enforcement-community relations and conducting a dialogue on reporting bias incidents and hate crimes. They also sought to identify hate crimes-related resources for the public and bring law enforcement and the community together to prevent and respond to hate crimes.

As a result, CRS facilitated a public Bias Incidents and Hate Crimes forum in September 2019, that provided Anchorage community members insight into how hate crimes are investigated and prosecuted, the effect of bias incidents and hate crimes, and resources for communities and victims of bias incidents and hate crimes. Nearly 100 advocacy group representatives, community leaders, faith leaders, and students filled the auditorium at the Anchorage Public Library’s main branch. Speakers included the USAO-AK and city officials, who both stressed the need to build trust and foster cooperation between law enforcement and the community as a first step toward increasing hate crimes reporting.

A city resolution was passed that encouraged residents to learn more about proactively responding to bias incidents and hate crimes. In addition, three Anchorage schools requested that CRS help them plan and conduct School-Student Problem Identification and Resolution of Issues Together (School-SPIRIT) programs for their students in the coming year as part of the schools’ ongoing efforts to reduce community tensions and the number of bias incidents.

In October 2018, Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) community leaders from Seattle, Washington requested assistance from CRS to educate high school and university students about the importance of reporting bias incidents and hate crimes to law enforcement and to improve law enforcement-community relations. Community leaders reported repeated incidents of allegedly bias-motivated bullying, harassment, and petty crimes, such as theft of personal property targeting Seattle’s AAPI student communities.

CRS worked with the Organization of Chinese American - Seattle Chapter (OCA) and Pre- Conquest Indigenous Cultures & the Aftermath (PICA) to raise awareness of bias incidents and hate crimes targeting the AAPI community, improve relations between law enforcement and AAPI youth, encourage reporting, and conduct prevention workshops involving service-providing organizations and the Seattle Police Department. As a first step, OCA and PICA requested CRS’s assistance in identifying a Seattle Police Department representative to speak at a cultural event for AAPI students.

Finally, CRS trained students in facilitated dialogue skills to lead a multi-session program on bullying and harassment at a Seattle high school. The program was part of a city-wide Martin Luther King, Jr., (MLK) Day 2019 commemoration attended by thousands of people from the greater Seattle area. Students, their families, and social-service providers attended the program, filling a large classroom to standing-room capacity. The dialogues brought together students, educators, and law enforcement officers to share their personal experiences of race, color, and national origin-motivated bullying and hate crimes.

Three elementary schools in East Portland, Oregon, became a flashpoint in ongoing racial conflicts as the community and the students became increasingly diverse.

In the early 1900s, the Lynch family donated the land on which the three schools still sit. To honor the family’s contributions, each of the schools bore the Lynch family name. Despite being named for the family, the word “lynch” in the schools’ names concerned African American students and their families.

In 2017, the Centennial School District decided it was in the community’s best interests to rename the three schools, and in August of that year, the school board voted to rename the schools immediately. "Lynch View Elementary School" permanently became "Patrick Lynch Elementary School," and the board temporarily changed the names of "Lynch Meadows Elementary School" to “Meadows Elementary School” and "Lynch Wood Elementary School" to "Wood Elementary School" until the community could provide feedback on the schools’ new, permanent names.

Many in the East Portland community disagreed with the school board’s decision. Disagreements over renaming the schools led to racial conflicts, including threats directed at the African American superintendent and members of the school board.

To address these tensions, throughout the 2017-2018 school year, CRS facilitated a process between school district leaders, parents, faculty, and the community to address ongoing racial tensions in the district that included developing a new procedure for naming the district’s buildings and facilities. In January 2018, CRS trained volunteers from a local university and a civil rights organization to facilitate a series of dialogues between a diverse group of community members who held broad and opposing views on the school renaming initiative. In May 2018, with input from the community dialogues, Meadows and Wood Elementary Schools presented their top three name choices to the Centennial School Board. In June 2018, the board voted to officially keep the name of Meadows Elementary School and change the name of Wood Elementary School to Powell Butte Elementary School.

Through the process, CRS assisted the school district in developing an inclusive school renaming process, and the school district resolved the community’s racial tension peacefully. The CRS-trained facilitators remain an active resource in the East Portland community to assist the school district as it continues to make decisions about the future of its schools and students’ learning environment.

A local Seattle civil rights organization requested CRS services in December 2017 due to deteriorating relations between law enforcement and the city’s Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) community.

Beginning in October 2016, Seattle experienced a series of robberies and crimes allegedly targeting Asian seniors, women, and students. In December 2016, the thefts escalated when an unknown assailant robbed and killed My-Linh Nguyen near her Seattle home as she returned from work. Police officers arrested an African American man in connection with the case nearly a year after the killing. However, no charges were filed, and the case remains open.

Trust between law enforcement and the AAPI community had reached a low point, and rebuilding police-community relations had become a priority for law enforcement officials. Initially, CRS worked with the AAPI community and local law enforcement, both separately and together, to assess the tensions and find common ground. A local civil rights organization also requested CRS assistance to educate the AAPI community about the importance of reporting hate crimes to the proper authorities and working with law enforcement to prevent hate crimes from occurring.

Local law enforcement and civil rights leaders worked with CRS to plan an event to address hate crimes and other concerns in the Seattle community. CRS trained student leaders from the University of Washington to facilitate the January 2018 event that drew a large audience comprised of parents, high school students, social service providers, teachers, law school and college students, and those interested in the topics due to personal experiences with acts of intolerance and bullying.

The event provided Seattle residents an opportunity to air their concerns about hate crimes and other issues in the community and connect with local police to improve trust and safety.

A state correctional institution lacked a formal, written policy for how its administrators and staff should interact with transgender arrestees and inmates.  In February 2018, the institution asked CRS to help develop such a policy.

Historically, the transgender community has distrusted law enforcement. To help improve its relations with the community, the correctional institution wanted to develop the new policy in collaboration with leaders from the transgender community. As a first step, the correctional institution asked CRS to train its department staff on best practices for interacting with transgender individuals.

In May 2018, CRS worked with transgender community groups and local law enforcement to deliver the Law Enforcement and the Transgender Community program to approximately 50 corrections staff members. The training led to the creation of a working group to help the correctional institution craft new procedures for working with the transgender community.

In April 2020, a police officer fatally shot a 33-year-old Black man who was carrying a baseball bat around a local superstore in Northern California. The officer later received charges for felony manslaughter. The victim’s family stated that he lived with schizophrenia and bipolar depression and had experienced a mental health crisis the day he died. Black civil rights advocates, community leaders, and a local civil rights group requested CRS consultation and facilitation services to address community members’ concerns over the impact of the shooting, allegations of excessive use of force by law enforcement, and the role of race and mental illness in the incident. The victim’s death sparked community protests alleging the excessive use of force was unjustified and racially biased.

To open lines of communication and facilitate the voicing of concerns surrounding the shooting, CRS facilitated dialogues in April and May with city officials, law enforcement officials, a national civil rights organization, Black community leaders, civil rights advocates, and community organizations. During an April meeting, a police official discussed the release of the official police video that captured the sequence of events leading to the shooting to increase transparency with the community throughout the process. Meeting participants from a local civil rights group agreed to assist in rumor control by educating their members about the incident as captured on the video and clarifying any questions surrounding other videos circulating on social media.

In May 2020, CRS facilitated a virtual dialogue with city officials, law enforcement, Black community leaders, and civil rights advocates. The 40 participants identified issues, such as the need to address the trauma and mental stress on the Black community caused by the shooting, and solutions, including racial sensitivity training for the police, training for interactions with individuals suffering from a mental health crisis, and a moratorium on protests by community advocacy groups until the completion of the police investigation.

In subsequent sessions in August and September, the parties continued identifying concerns, discussed ways to improve police-community relations, and formed four sub-working groups, led by a local civil rights group, focused on: the city, including rebranding efforts and retelling the story of the community; local youth, including advising the city on youth-related topics; police reform policy; and contingency planning for responding to future protests.

In the aftermath of the facilitated dialogues surrounding the shooting of the victim, coupled with the growing tensions nationwide over the deaths of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, community members began working toward longer-term changes in the city and the police department. Following the CRS-led facilitated dialogues, the city became the first in its county to implement the pilot program, the “Community Assessment Treatment and Transport Team,” or CATT, as a new county policing model. These teams of mental health crisis professionals and emergency medical technicians dispatch work alongside law enforcement and other first responders, as needed, to help individuals suffering from a mental health crisis as part of a mobile crisis response system. In addition, to continue working toward changing negative perceptions associated with the city, city officials began rebranding and updating the city’s website to highlight its positive aspects, including its history and diversity, and to retell the story of the city.

CRS provided consultation services and facilitated two dialogues with city officials, a local police department, and local faith and community leaders from a city in Northern California, as a continuation of services that began in 2019, following the police-involved shooting of a young Black man. Already strained police-community relations increased after the shooting, resulting in community protests and outrage directed toward the city and law enforcement, with community groups alleging racial profiling and police excessive use of force.

After the city’s public announcement of an initiative to bring the community together and address a range of their concerns, including strained police-community relations and racial tensions, CRS formed a working group composed of faith leaders, community organizations, educators, local business leaders, and the arts community to support the initiative’s efforts. Toward the end of 2019, CRS provided consultation services to city officials, law enforcement, and the working group to develop a series of structured dialogues titled “Community and Police Conversations on Racial Environments (CAPCORE),” designed to provide feedback to the city and police department to inform the revamping of local police procedures and policies. CRS also assessed community concerns, perspectives, and priorities in various parts of the city to facilitate a better understanding of police-community relations throughout the city and to structure the dialogues to include the communities’ input.

In February 2020, CRS facilitated two interactive CAPCORE dialogues with approximately 30 participants, including one dialogue with 15 interfaith community leaders and another with 15 community leaders representing businesses, education, youth, neighborhood organizations, and social service organizations. During the dialogues, participants shared feedback as they discussed questions that the city, police department, and community stakeholders had helped formulate. The questions focused on participants’ perceptions of the city, values they wanted to see displayed through policing, and the most effective methods of police outreach.

The facilitated dialogue with the community leaders brought out concerns surrounding racial tensions and policing perceptions of bias. Participants identified possible solutions, such as the need for including neighborhood associations in policy and planning, training on racial bias and de-escalation for officers, exploring less lethal force options, increasing outreach to non-emergency contacts, and enhancing recruitment efforts to make a diverse force. In the interfaith dialogue, participants provided feedback to the city, police department, and community organizations on their congregations’ perceptions of bias. They also agreed to make officer complaint forms available to their congregations and conduct training with the community on how to complete and file the forms.

Interfaith and community leader participants found the facilitated dialogues helpful for strengthening police-community relations in the city. The police department also used input from the discussions to help revise its policies and practices. The community developed plans to continue holding dialogues in 2021 and collecting and sharing feedback with the police department.

In June 2020, CRS received a request from a city in Southern California to address community members’ concerns about perceived bias-based incidents against Black residents. Earlier that month, after several protesters allegedly threw objects at the police, police fired pepper balls at peaceful protesters demonstrating in solidarity in response to national calls for police accountability in the death of George Floyd. In city council meetings in June and July, Black community members expressed concerns about neighbors allegedly calling the police, without reason, on Black people occupying public spaces.

In response, an elected city official pledged to conduct a community dialogue and work with law enforcement to review their use-of-force policy. CRS provided consultation services to city officials to help determine the appropriate actions to engage residents and address their concerns. CRS led calls with city officials throughout June, July, and August to share information about CRS services and methods that other cities used to address similar issues. CRS also helped the city identify goals to shape its approach, offered input on how to format a community dialogue, and shared guiding questions for conducting a productive review of law enforcement policies. Based on CRS’s consultation, the city conducted two virtual community dialogues in September 2020, led by an outside facilitator, with the recording later posted publicly on the city’s website. During the dialogue, community members discussed their personal experiences with racial discrimination and shared ideas for improving inclusivity. Participants suggested diversity and inclusion training for city staff, violence prevention programs for youth, and a city commission on equity for listening to community concerns. The city created a new council subcommittee on equity and inclusion that met quarterly, with meeting attendance open to the public to offer their input and recommendations on improving equity and inclusivity in the city. The city also began working with law enforcement to review its use-of-force policy. CRS continues to provide consultation services to the city as needed.

On April 27, 2019, on Shabbat and the final day of Passover, a gunman opened fire inside the Chabad of Poway synagogue, killing one worshiper and wounding three others. The attack struck fear in Southern California’s Jewish faith communities already attempting to recover from a bias-motivated arson at nearby mosque in Escondido. In addition, tensions in Poway’s faith communities were already elevated due to the Christchurch, New Zealand, mosque shooting the prior month and the attack at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania that happened exactly six months prior to the attack in Poway.

In the attack’s aftermath, community members asked CRS to help with their efforts to strengthen community safety, especially in and around places of worship, and to find long-term solutions so congregants could worship safely. Poway community members sought a space to heal from the attacks and opportunities to address their safety concerns while protecting places of worship in interfaith and faith-specific settings.

Soon after the Poway shooting, law enforcement connected one alleged attacker to both the shooting and the arson through online posts in which he took responsibility for both crimes and claimed inspiration from the Pittsburgh and New Zealand incidents.

In early May 2019, CRS convened the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of California (USAO-SDCA), Muslim community leaders, local mosque leaders, and interfaith coalition members to assess community tensions, identify concerns, and share best practices for addressing hate crimes and protecting houses of worship. CRS worked as part of the Federal government’s interagency response to the shooting, which involved the USAO-SDCA, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and other federal and state agencies.

San Diego area interfaith communities agreed to host a Bias Incidents and Hate Crimes forum. Dialogue participants believed that the region’s strong interfaith communities and increased ability to respond to hate crimes would lead to a successful program. The August 2019 forum, led by the USAO-SDCA, in conjunction with local Muslim community members and interfaith coalition, brought together the region’s interfaith communities to increase their local capacity to prevent and respond to hate crimes.

The fatal police shooting of a well-known musician in February 2019 caused sustained protests in the city of Vallejo, California. Police allegedly found the African American man asleep in his car with a gun on his lap in the drive-through of a fast food restaurant in Vallejo. Police body cameras captured the shooting; the footage shows police requesting him to put his hands up and then firing 55 rounds into the car.

In the weeks following the shooting, the community protested and expressed outrage at the city and police department. The city requested CRS services to ease the racial tension and strained law enforcement-community relations. In May 2019, CRS provided consultation services to city officials to begin discussing best practices in response to the fatal police shooting.

CRS formed a working group with representatives of the city’s diverse communities, including faith leaders, community organizations, educators, local business leaders and the arts community. The working group developed the “Unite Vallejo” initiative to address a range of community concerns, including race and policing, in a way that would bring the community together. As a part of the initiative, CRS facilitated seven dialogue sessions, including geographically distributed racial dialogues to gain feedback on community perceptions on policing. The city planned to use the feedback from the dialogues to inform the search for a new chief of police.

After the initiative launched, CRS provided additional consultation services to city and police officials to help ensure the sustained success of “Unite Vallejo” and to discuss the initiative’s next phase, which included hiring the new chief of police. As a part of the implementation of this next phase, CRS facilitated listening sessions with residents, during which they identified the skills and experience they believed necessary for a new chief. These skills included expertise with internal affairs, community policing, and diversifying law enforcement. CRS also facilitated dialogues with city leaders to identify their needs for the new chief of police, which included experience with news media.

A college in Los Angeles, California, has a history of protests from African American students over perceived racial bias from school administrators. In November 2015, a group of students took over the college’s administration building with a list of demands to address their concerns. Two years later, tensions continued with students alleging that the college did not properly protect students of color from discrimination on campus.

In the midst of these tensions, a group at the college that was focused on civic engagement contacted CRS for assistance in creating a Race and Human Relations Accountability Board on campus. The vision for the board was to serve as an independent body - composed of students, faculty, staff, and college officials - responsible for identifying and addressing incidents, patterns, and practices impacting race and human relations on campus. Throughout October 2017, CRS provided technical assistance to a group of students, faculty, and staff to develop a practical framework for the board - including a mission, vision, goals, and processes - for multiple stakeholders to collaboratively address race-based conflicts on campus.

In the spring of 2018, the college group presented the model for the board to college officials. CRS continues to monitor the situation and provide further assistance, as needed.

In June 2017, CRS provided onsite facilitation and consultation services to local law enforcement, city officials, and event organizers during a “March Against Sharia” protest in Roseville, California. In response to the event, counter-protestors planned to hold their own event, which raised concerns of potential violence and confrontations between the opposing groups. CRS provided consultation services to local law enforcement that assisted in the creation of a contingency plan that separated the groups and minimized potential violence. Specifically, this contingency plan included separating the three opposing groups — “anti-fascist” groups, a faith-based unity group, and supporters of the “March Against Sharia” — on three different street corners with no pedestrian traffic allowed in the street between them. CRS services aided law enforcement and demonstrators to conduct a safe and lawful event.