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Lake County Respect For All group meets Sept. 8
The meeting will focus on work of the group’s subcommittees.
The Lake County Respect For All Task Force, a group of local individuals, is striving to increase awareness about safe and inclusive learning environments.
The group is working to identify possible actions to help the Lake County community. Subcommittees are working on outreach projects, gathering information for a list of community resources, providing training and awareness for school personnel and administrators, strengthening policies and procedures for use in the schools, and helping campuses with their efforts for student activities, including upcoming Challenge Days at two Lake County high schools.
The Respect For All Project is a program of GroundSpark. More information about the project is available on the GroundSpark Web site, www.groundspark.org.
A proposal for the Lake County project explains that GroundSpark, The Respect for All Project “is a non-profit organization that seeks to create safe, hate-free schools and communities by providing youth and the adults who guide their development the tools they need to talk openly about diversity in all of its forms.”
As part of its work toward safe and inclusive learning environments, task force members identified a list of goals and split up responsibilities. The goals include identifying community resources, networking and expanding the task force, pursuing support for gay/straight alliances, developing and fundraising for Challenge Day events at schools, and reviewing policies and implementation strategies.
Challenge Days are planned at both Lower Lake High School and Clear Lake High School (Lakeport).
The task force supports the goal of the presentations to eliminate bullying, violence and other forms of oppression. According to the Challenge Day website (www.challengeday.org), the mission of Challenge Day is “to provide youth and their communities with experiential programs that demonstrate the possibility of love and connection through the celebration of diversity, truth, and full expression.”
Clear Lake High School’s Challenge Day event is scheduled for Sept. 20 and 21; Lower Lake will hold its event Sept. 22 and 23.
The Lake County Respect For All Task Force welcomes participation by new members. Individuals interested in helping the task force in its efforts to assist youth and their families in assuring safe and inclusive learning environments are invited to attend the meetings.
In Lake County, the Respect For All Project, in cooperation with Lake County Healthy Start and Lake County Family Resource Center, is collaborating with local educators, high school students, community leaders, and representatives from a variety of organizations.
Lake County was chosen as one of three California counties for the pilot project through GroundSpark. The task force has been meeting periodically over the last 18 months.
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