by Carrie Boron and Amy Malick

NLC?s 7th Annual Race Equality and Inclusive Communities Week, which took place last week, reminded many that creating racial equity in a community takes time ? a fact that organizers of study circles programs have been learning for years.

Study circles, supported since 1989 by the Study Circles Resource Center, is a process that puts public dialogue at the center of community change. Programs begin with broad, inclusive community organizing to draw people from all parts of the community to work on an issue of shared concern. Next, many small facilitated groups meet simultaneously across the community to consider the issue from many perspectives and explore possible solutions. Then, in an action phase, organizers help people connect the results of the dialogue to other community change processes.

There have been study circles on racism and race relations in many cities and towns across the country. Two examples from Springfield, Ill., and Fayetteville, N.C., reveal that these cities are still seeing the fruits of their labor years after their study circles programs took place.

Springfield
In response to study circles participants wanting to see more racial diversity in the police and fire departments, in 1998, then-Mayor Karen Hasara set a goal that there would be 15 percent employees who are people of color in the public safety departments by 2005.

This past April, current Mayor Timothy J. Davlin appointed seven people to the city?s first police community review commission. He also appointed a recruiter whose job is to help the city attract more people of color to apply for jobs in the police and fire departments.

The recruiter?s efforts seem to be paying off. In June, Davlin announced that the number of applicants who are people of color and who passed the written exam for the Springfield Police Department more than doubled from 2005 to 2006. The pool of such candidates for jobs at the police department is the largest in the last six years.

?A lot of what?s happening now is a result of the city?s study circles program,? says Ernie Slottag, the mayor?s communication director. ?Ideas from the program are still being played out today.?

Fayetteville
In 1999, residents participating in a study circles program on racism in Fayetteville identified a need for the city to recruit more people of color into the fire department and encouraged mentoring of youth to enter the field.

Six years later, the city and Fayetteville State University opened Fire Station 14, which also serves as a virtual center of coordinated fire science programs at E.E. Smith High School, Fayetteville Technical Community College and Fayetteville State University. In the last year of the program, students complete an internship that involves working a regular shift at the firehouse.

?We have seen a more diverse applicant pool since we opened the station,? said Fire Chief Benny Nichols. ?Plus, the station has had a positive community impact and continues to be a focal point for the community.?

Springfield and Fayetteville are examples of cities that have faced racism head-on. These cities have made it possible to provide ways for people from all kinds of racial, ethnic and cultural backgrounds to take part in dialogues on racism, assess the work that they need to do to address racism at the institutional level, and provide ways to link dialogues to measurable changes in people, institutions and public policy.

Details: The Study Circles Resource Center has worked with more than 400 communities in 43 states to organize large-scale study circles programs. It recently published a new study circles discussion guide called ?Facing Racism in a Diverse Nation.? To learn more about the guide or for more information on study circles, visit www.studycircles.org.

Carrie Boron is deputy communications director and Amy Malick is communications director for the Study Circles Resource Center.