Building Hate Crime Response Capacity
Building Hate Crime Response Capacity in Community-Based Organizations
The United States has a long history of conflict centered on perceived differences among people, and the FBI first began reporting hate crimes during World War I. However, there is little consensus on how different communities define hate crimes; how hate crimes are reported and tracked; and what happens after these crimes are reported. These data are critical to both prevention efforts that can bring communities together and safeguard the most vulnerable in our communities, as well as intervention efforts that can help individuals and communities heal. As the most diverse city in the nation, the Houston metroplex provides a natural laboratory to examine hate crimes and incidents of bias as well as design solutions to strengthen the regions’ capacity to respond to such in a timely manner. As incidents of hate crime continue to rise, it becomes necessary for community-based organizations (CBOs) to develop effective methods for responding to hate and bias.
Through this research project, commissioned by the Houston Coalition Against Hate with generous funding from Houston Endowment, we aimed to identify best practices for responding to hate crimes and assess CBOs current capacity to respond to hate crime. In addition, we conducted a training workshop with CBOs to build organizational understanding of current response capacity, discuss recommended strategies for building increased response capacity, and created a self-evaluation tool to assist CBOs in monitoring progress with capacity building efforts.
Commissioned by:
