Congratulations!  The Michigan Alliance Against Hate Crimes (MIAAHC) has selected you to participate in a statewide initiative to create a local community response system (CRS) during the 2009 MI Response To Hate Conference under a newly designed pilot program. 

MIAAHC’s goal is to generate a series of community response systems in distinct communities across the state:  Ann Arbor, Canton, Dearborn, Farmington/Farmington Hills, Flint/Genesee County, Grand Rapids, Hamtramck, Holland, Howell, Kalamazoo, Lansing, Lapeer, Mt. Pleasant, Muskegon/Muskegon Heights, and Saginaw.  MIAAHC identified these communities based on three criteria:

·         A request for assistance from the community following a bias incident

·         A request for technical training and support by an existing network seeking to energize its partners, formalize its processes and reinvigorate its current programs

·         Our knowledge of existing groups within communities that have all the hallmarks of a viable CRS underway, either through working on anti-bias initiatives or past support for bias victims

To that end, MIAAHC has invited ten key stakeholders common to each community to participate:  chief executive, police chief, fire chief, schools’ superintendent, county prosecutor, victim advocate, human relations commission chair, emergency manager/CERT, media publisher, and medical facility executive.  Also in attendance will be local, regional, and statewide advocacy and interest groups currently active in the MIAAHC membership network.