EDUCATIONAL PROJECTS
An inadequate biennial budget initially in 1969 (coupled with subsequent
straining by the addition of sex discrimination in 1970 without any increase
in the budget) has crippled the Commission's capacity to develop an ongoing
public educational program on an effective scale. The bulk of public "education"
by the Commission has therefore been restricted essentially to speeches,
newsletters, and a comprehensive annual report. Discussion of three specific
affirmative action projects in 1970 follows. These are illustrative of the
type of public education - liaison type projects which the Commission needs
to conduct in order to help eliminate racial, religious,
cultural, and intergroup tensions.
Real Estate Examination questions on Fair Housing: Upon request of Iowa
Real Estate Commission, the Commission staff prepared six multiple choice
questions on fair housing, which
were included on the annual state license examination for real estate brokers.
The test was administered on May 1, 1970. The questions included housing
regulations under the Iowa
Civil Rights Act, the federal Fair Housing Act of 1968, the Governor's Executive
Order No. 9, and the Real Estate Commission's code of ethics (relating to
equal opportunity in housing).
University Seminar on Intergroup Relations: The Commission's executive director
and part-time research director assisted in the establishment of a semester-long
academic seminar on intergroup relations at Iowa State University. Moreover,
each lectured at the seminar for one class period, covering the legal history
of the civil rights struggle in Iowa and the United States as well as the
specific work of the Iowa Civil Rights Commission.
Statewide Conferences on Civil Rights Strategy: A total of 92 persons attended
one or both of the two area human rights conferences held in Ames on June
13 and in Iowa City on June
27. The conferences were co-sponsored by the Iowa State Extension Service
and this Commission. The conference charge was to explore the depth of human
rights problems in Iowa now and in the future) with the goal of developing
a coordinated strategy for the 1970's for professional agencies and organizations
as well as interested citizens to deal more effectively with
problems of discrimination and intergroup relations on both the state and
local levels.
Among the 21 general recommendations raised by the delegates, the following
13 recommendations pertain closely to the Iowa Civil Rights Commission.
Implementation of these 13 recommendations could go a long way toward making
the Commission's affirmative action role more effective.
The 13 recommendations were:
(1) The Iowa Civil Rights Commission needs restructuring to make it more
effective in enforcing the law. (some consider the Commission now to be
little more than an advisory committee)
(2) A one-or two-day training institute is needed for sharpening the skills
of state and local commission personnel on techniques of initiating and
processing complaints, as well as ferreting out discriminatory practices.
(3) Civil rights conferences -- both statewide and areawide -- should be
held periodically to keep interested persons informed and to utilize their
talents.
(4) Improved liaison between the State Commission and the 20 local commissions
is necessary.
(5) A massive program to educate the public about human rights is needed
(with the State Commission taking the lead in compiling the information
-- but local groups must carry the ball in effectively disseminating the
information in their own communities).
(6) The State Commission needs funds (a) to enforce the new sex-discrimination
law; (b) to follow through on closed cases to see that there is continuing
compliance; (c) to provide increased technical assistance to local commissions
and other civil rights-oriented organizations on a regular basis; (d) to
devise and implement a massive program of public education on human rights;
(e) to increase its ability to ferret out discrimination on its own through
detailed studies of the existence of discrimination and prejudice; and (f)
to sponsor frequent civil rights conferences and training institutes -not
only with civil rights practitioners but also with employers, educators,
police, public administrators, realtors, etc.
(7) Organizations or individuals must keep abreast of civil rights issues,
thus being able to "set the record straight" when civil rights
problems arise and are either glossed over or blown out of proportion (for
example, by the news media or by public officials).
(8) Organizations should act as continuing study groups so they can be constant
watchdogs in favor of civil rights -for example, making annual surveys of
minority employment in city government, schools, and private industry; making
special studies on the possible operative discriminatory effects of the
schools' use of the tracking system and the Iowa Basic Skills Test; etc.
(9) Encourage seminars (in small interpersonal sessions) in which police
officers, minorities, and civil rights practitioners get together to explore
their views of each other.
(10) A series of pamphlets on citizens' constitutional rights should be
prepared, with emphasis on exactly what rights citizens have and the specific
limits on these rights.
(11) Efforts should be directed toward making attitudinal changes among
educators -- the State Commission working closely with the State Department
of Public Instruction in the promulgation of statewide policy directives;
and local organizations making personal contacts on the local level with
school board members, school administrators, teachers, parent groups, etc.
to implement the statewide policies effectively on the local levels.
(12) Civil rights groups should expand their concern beyond racial discrimination
in housing to include active support for low-income housing through public
and private organizations, as well as insisting on strict enforcement of
the local health and sanitation codes.
(13) Civil rights commissions (state and local) should intensify their public
relations efforts (through brochures, newsletters, press releases, letters-to-the
editor, position papers, and public service announcements in the news media).
-People just do not know what commissions can do, or are doing.