Racial Harmony – A third party neutral organization dedicated to promoting understanding, cooperation, and communication among all races and groups.

Dear Members & Friends

Racial Harmony is a third party neutral organization dedicated to promoting understanding, cooperation, and communication among all races and ethnic groups. Racial Harmony partners with other community organizations that share a similar mission, vision, and goals. The organization also co–sponsors annual events with several partners.

Information about Racial Harmony’s mission can be found in this downloadable flyer .

Our Goals:

• To communicate effectively the meaning and benefits of ethnic and racial harmony
• To promote and initiate strategies for increasing racial and ethnic understanding

Our Services:

• Mediation and Conflict Resolution
• Instruction and Training Workshops
• Cooperative Learning Programs
• Youth Development Seminars and Activities
• Guest Speaking

Our Partners:

Racial Harmony works in partnership with community leaders, area schools, churches and neighborhood associations in an effort to continue to provide the above programs and continuously work to develop additional programs that will promote understanding, cooperation and communication among all races and ethnic groups

YOUR Pledge:

“To assist Racial Harmony to provide services and programs to promote the understanding, cooperation and communication among all races and ethnic groups for the betterment of our community, our children and our future.”

Racial Harmony is a not–for–profit 501(C) dedicated to making a difference through mediation, teaching, training, and cooperative learning.

Join our organization as a member for as little as $15* annually

Get involved with our many local events benefitting racial harmony.

SIUE Inclusive Excellence, Education and Development Hub Announces Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Essay and Poetry Contest

SIUE would like to invite the students of your school or community center to participate in the 41^st Annual Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Celebration at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville!

Each year, applications from the local youth (middle school – high school) are accepted to enter the Youth Essay, Poetry or Visual Arts Contest. All entries should be a reflection of the theme for the 2024 Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Luncheon, We Are Called to be a Movement. Also, the title of keynote speaker, Rev. Dr. Barber’s book, this theme stems from Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s 1968 Poor People’s Campaign that was unfinished then revived by Rev. Dr. Barber in 2018. This campaign was originally part of the second phase of the Civil Rights Movement led by Dr. King just before his assassination. Today it continues Dr. King’s work in fighting systemic racism and demanding equity for poor communities in the United States.

“We have moved from the era of civil rights to the era of human rights, an era where we are called upon to raise certain basic questions about the whole society. We have been in a reform movement…But after Selma and the voting rights bill, we moved into a new era, which must be the era of revolution. We must recognize that we can’t solve our problem now until there is a radical redistribution of economic and political power.” — Report to Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) Staff (May 1967)

Award Categories

Essay

Must be typed using an easy to read non-script font (Cambria, Arial or Times New Roman)
Double-spaced, between 750-1,000 words

Poetry

Must be typed using an easy to read non-script font (Cambria, Arial or Times New Roman)
Double-spaced, 500 words or less

Visual Arts

Can be traditional art (drawing, painting, sculpture, mixed media, etc.) or digital art* (video of musical performance, other video, 2-D or 3-D graphics, digital photography, digital collages, etc.)
Maximum size for traditional art entries: 3’ x 3’
Maximum length for digital art (film or video): 5 minutes or less
Other digital art submissions must be easily accessible and if a device is required for viewing, this must be noted with the submission

*Depending on the device or program needed for viewing or interacting with digital art, the review committee may not be able to accept all digital art entries.

A winner will be chosen from each category and will be awarded $100. Winners and their families are also invited to attend the 41^st Annual Martin Luther King, Jr. Celebration on January 17^th at 11am on SIUE’s campus to accept their award.

More information can be found on our website as well as the Youth Award Application.

Applications are now open and will close at 12pm on December 21^st.

2023 RACIAL HARMONY SCHOLARSHIP RECIPIENT

The Center for Racial Harmony proudly announces Myles McGee as the winner of its $1000 2023 scholarship award.

Myles is a 2023 graduate of Althoff Catholic High School in Belleville, Illinois and will be attending McKendree University this Fall majoring in Psychology. Myles is also a two-time Racial Harmony Award Nominee having received the award in 2009 from Our Lady Queen of Peace School and Church and in 2010 from Althoff.

When asked how he saw himself promoting our diversity mission, Myles responded in essay, “I’ve many times heard the quote “To whom much is given, much is required”. When you look at that quote and quantify “given”, to many youth like myself whose family is not the most affluent, there may seem to be a disconnect. However, when the context of “given” is redefined as a quality, each of us has a responsibility to require more of ourselves.

The Gathering 2023

Each year, Racial Harmony, an organization dedicated to promoting understanding, cooperation, and communication among all races and ethnic groups, holds an annual Gathering in February. The primary function of the Racial Harmony Gathering is to honor students who have promoted goodwill and respect and have sought peaceful ways to resolve differences.

Area K-12 Educators were invited to nominate one (1) student from their school to be recognized at our annual awards celebration, The Gathering.

On Sunday, February 26, 2023, Center for Racial Harmony recognized 42 area student as this year’s honorees.