Wednesday, January 12, 2000
Race agency defends work
Sees politics in critical report
BY ROBERT ANGLEN
The Cincinnati Enquirer
A report criticizing Cincinnati's primary race-relations group as ineffective was met with anger Tuesday.
Past and present members of the Cincinnati Human Relations Commission disputed a $10,000 city-funded study that found those who could benefit most from the organization are unaware it exists.
“It would be difficult for the (commission) to effectively address its mission and be virtually unknown and unseen by the remainder of the community,” wrote two former members — John Van Volkenburgh and Patricia Garry — hired to analyze the commission.
But supporters of the commission — formed in the mid-1960s during nationwide race riots — argued it has become victimized by political whims and stripped of its funding by City Council.
“Whenever there is a time of civil disobedience, there is no question of our effectiveness,” Thomas Gardner, former commission executive director, told a council committee Tuesday.
When there is no strife, Mr. Gardner said, the commis sion is often targeted for cuts.
City Council, which pays for the nonprofit commission's operations, called for the study last January before it would approve $70,000 for a new executive director.
“It is my honest and sincere opinion that the (commission) has been the object of a politically engineered manipulation,” Commission Chairman Ernest Waits said in a letter to council. “It is hard to visualize any possible constructive purpose to be served by beheading the staff of the commission, not allowing the replacement of the director and freezing the appointment of additional board members and then order a study on the effectiveness of the now crippled agency.”
He said former and current council members tried to change the focus of the commission to turn it into an enforcement agency with subpoena powers, much like the Ohio Civil Rights Commission. He said council members also wanted the commission to narrow its focus to only black and white race issues.
The board's current charge is to “study and investigate problems of relationships between various racial, religious and ethnic groups in order to foster mutual respect and understanding.”
In a point-by-point response to the report, Mr. Waits contends the commission has met its obligations and places onus for failings on the city's lack of support.
Councilwoman Alicia Reece, chairwoman of the council's Health, Social and Children Services, Small Business Development, Employment and Training Committee, asked consultants to go over the report Tuesday. While no decision was made, Ms. Reece said the city needs to quickly establish the future of the commission.
The commission, she said, has been “the bridge” in various con flicts, acting as a liaison between community groups and city officials.
But, Ms. Reece said, the city's funding has dropped from $466,000 in 1997 to $392,000 in 1999.
The 17-page report does not say the commission should be replaced. But it says the city needs to change the way it provides “human relations services.”
While the city should contract with a nonprofit firm, the report said the firm should make a “bold disconnect” from City Hall and be responsible for its own budget, staffing and facility. It said there should be a human relations presence in all neighborhoods and the firm should have its own market and outreach programs.
“I am sad,” Ms. Garry said after Tuesday's meeting. “I have a sadness about how many people don't know what the (commission) is doing today.”
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