The new president of the Valparaiso Human Relations Council will likely have a pretty busy year.
At the council’s Jan. 26 meeting, Heath Carter, the new president, presented a list of 17 items he wants to make progress on this year, ranging from local legislation to connecting residents to resources to special programs.
Council Member John Albers suggested creating a process for people who have problems and for city officials to have a process on how to respond to allegations of human rights violations.
Without the processes, it would take one incident to take over the group’s monthly meeting, and nothing else would get done, Albers said.
The panel and audience also discussed concerns that a pending state civil rights ordinance is supposed to negate any local ones passed before or after it.
However, the members plan to look at creating one.
.
The other subjects Carter wants to explore are schools and universities, economic development with culturally diverse businesses, accessibility, a community grant program and promoting what already exists, whether its a government process or something in the community.
Albers also said he’d like to bring people into the conversations who don’t understand why people don’t feel welcome in the city.
James D. Wolf Jr. is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.
