Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper Launches New ADL Program No Place for Hate®

Date: March 13, 2008

Denver Post

Rocky Mountain News

CBS 4

Today, Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper launched the Anti-Defamation League's new education program for Colorado schools, No Place for Hate®, and its companion guide, the updated and revised 2008-2009 edition of Positive Impact! Tools for Respecting Differences during a press conference on the front steps of the City and County Building.

"We are gathered here today to imagine a world without racism, without bigotry and without hatred," Hickenlooper told the crowd. "We are here to imagine a day when you won't see swastikas painted on the side of a synagogue or a home, and a swastika will only exist between the covers of a history book. We imagine a day when green grass covers a hole left by burning a cross, a day when any form of a hate crime becomes a thing of a past.

"Today, we gather not just to imagine such a thing, but to actually move it forward."

ADL's No Place for Hate® program empowers schools to promote respect for individual and group differences while challenging prejudice and bigotry. Through the year-long program, schools work to complete five different steps to earn their designation as a No Place for Hate® community.

These steps include using ADL's 2008-2009 free resource guide Positive Impact! Tools for Respecting Differences, which continues to be designed for use in schools, community organizations, places of worship and the home, and provides exercises, approaches, ideas, and tools for creating a community that rejects prejudice and hate and embraces our diversity. The newest edition includes sections in English and Spanish, an updated "101 Ways to Make a Positive Impact in Your Community," and a list and glossary of 2008-2009 cultural and religious observances.

Schools earning their No Place for Hate® designation will sign ADL's Resolution of Respect in the 2008-2009 edition of Positive Impact!, part of which Mayor Hickenlooper read, pledging, "I firmly believe that one person can make a difference and that no one person can be an 'innocent' bystander when it comes to opposing hate."

Additionally, schools must complete three or more activities of the updated guide's "101 Ways to Make a Positive Impact in Your Community," and participate in one of ADL's A WORLD OF DIFFERENCE® Institute training programs: Becoming An Allying: Interrupting Name Calling and Bullying; Peer Training; or Trickery, Trolling and Threats: Understanding and Addressing Cyberbullying.

ADL's Mountain States Regional Director, Bruce H. DeBoskey, said "This new region-wide program will help us create school environments that are welcoming, inclusive and safe for all students. We look forward to partnering with schools and helping them earn their designation as No Place for Hate®."

Through the generous underwriting of the Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield Foundation, L.L.C., the Gay & Lesbian Fund for Colorado, and the David and Laura Merage Foundation, ADL can provide its No Place for Hate® program free to a limited number of Colorado schools for the 2008-2009 school year.

"As a health insurance company, Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield is not only strongly committed to the improved physical health but also to the mental and social health of our communities," Helen Drexler, Director of the company’s Large Group Account Management, said at the event. "As such, the Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield Foundation is very pleased to sponsor this important ADL program.

"Research shows that when there are programs like this in schools, kids attend more and perform better because there is less harassment and less hate speech," said Mary Lou Makepeace, Executive Director of the Gay and Lesbian Fund for Colorado. "It is just a safer more pleasant place for kids and so they do better and schools perform better."

"It is through diversity awareness and cultural education that we can equip children with the power to create a culture of acceptance," Sue Renner, Foundation Manager of the David and Laura Merage Foundation told the crowd. "We are proud to join hands with ADL to help children learn how to respect differences.

"Children face hate and bigotry far too frequently. The No Place for Hate® educational programs provide them with knowledge to stand-up to bigotry and be a voice for tolerance."

Schools wanting to sign up, and for additional information about the program, call 303-830-7177 ext. 238 or visit http://regions.adl.org/mountain-states. Additional sponsors of ADL's No Place for Hate® program include: The Chotin Foundation; the Polk Majestic Travel Group; WELLS FARGO; and the Melvin and Elaine Wolf Foundation.

Sponsors and underwriters also allow ADL to provide its 2008-2009 Positive Impact! Tools for Respecting Differences guide free to teachers, students, parents, community groups, houses of worship, businesses and the general public.

"From its inception, the Mizel Museum has been a premiere sponsor of ADL's free resource guide, Positive Impact! Tools for Respecting Differences because we believe it goes hand in hand with our mission to bring a wide variety of programming that builds bridges of understanding in the community and among all Coloradoans," Ellen Premack, Director of the Mizel Museum said.

To place an order for Positive Impact!, call 303-830-7177 ext. 212, email Denver@ADL.org or download a free PDF version through ADL's website, http://regions.adl.org/mountain-states/programs/positive-impact.html.

The 2008-2009 Positive Impact! sponsors are: Allied Jewish Federation; Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield Foundation, L.L.C.; American Furniture Warehouse; Ball Corporation; The Chotin Group; Colorado Rockies; Corporate Express; The Curtiss-Lusher Family; Denver Newspaper Agency; Gay & Lesbian Fund for Colorado; The GHP Financial Group; The Heyman Family Fund; IBM; Jonas Family; Joseph Family Fund; Lockheed Martin; MDC/Richmond American Homes Foundation; Polk Majestic Travel Group; Professional Periodontics & Implant Dentistry; Regis University; Rocky Mountain Steel; HealthONE Rose Medical Center; Valiant Products Corp.; The Melvin & Elaine Wolf Foundation; and WELLS FARGO.