The first meeting of the Communications Working Group was on September 22, 2005. Participants in this and subsequent Working Group meetings have included representatives from Albemarle County and City of Charlottesville Departments of Social Services, Police Departments and Public Schools, the International Rescue Committee, Nuevas Raíces, Piedmont Council of the Arts, Piedmont Housing Alliance, and Zona Latina, as well as community activists like Anne Ternes, and Mecca Burns, a theater professional from the Charlottesville Living History Initiative.

In its initial meetings, the Working Group identified specific language barriers, why they exist, how they can be addressed, and why agencies, especially local government offices, have not implemented or monitored plans to facilitate Latino access to their programs. For many months the Working Group focused on the benefits of providing information to and using the bilingual television program Zona Latina, the Spanish language newspaper Nuevas Raíces, and CJ’s website and Alerts to disseminate public announcements about programs Latinos may be eligible for and about events and opportunities relating to the Latino community. Subsequent meetings included discussions about identifying and incorporating Latino business owners in CJ activities and in the CJ listserv; establishing information depots (fixed locations where Spanish language materials about local resources can be displayed/distributed); and the need to advertise CJ meetings/activities in local newspapers, through UVA listservs, in the Charlottesville Peace and Justice newsletter, and elsewhere.

As the website got underway and Zona Latina was launched, meetings and attendance related to the Communications WG, as well as specific actions, have been progressively sporadic. A decision was made on December 12, 2006 to discontinue this working group because members prefer to work on other groups or no long have time to devote to a CJ activity.

COMMUNICATIONS WORKING GROUP MINUTES

December 12, 2006

April 27, 2006

March 23, 2006

February 2006