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New area group works at developing racial harmony

Concordia recommendation gets second look

Date published: 10/15/2005

By EDIE GROSS

Two years after Concordia's community-improvement sessions wrapped up, a small group of Fredericksburg residents is resurrecting one of the effort's key recommendations.

The Multicultural Outreach Effort, or MORE, hopes to improve race relations and create opportunities for people of different backgrounds to come together, a concept mentioned during Concordia's planning meetings.

"We just wanted to talk about some of the issues that divide the city sometimes, or the region, actually," said City Council member Debby Girvan, a member of MORE. "We're trying to take a positive approach to what is oftentimes a negative issue."

Concordia, a New Orleans-based planning and architectural firm, was hired by a group of residents in fall 2002 to lead a grass-roots community-planning process.

Participants addressed everything from the local economy to environmental issues during the yearlong effort. The result: a 52-page report that indicated the city was on the right track but needed to be vigilant in staying that way.

A "sustainability circle" of city residents was established to make sure the recommendations took shape, but nothing ever really came of the group, said Susan Spears, an assistant at the Fredericksburg Regional Chamber of Commerce.

Spears said there were lots of recommendations she wanted the city to pursue, but she was most interested in tackling the racial divide.

"I'm really interested in the community as a whole, but the thing that piqued my interest and made me sit up in my chair was when we started talking about race relations," Spears said.

Spears said she chatted informally with some other residents who'd been involved in the Concordia effort, and they felt the same way. Last summer, they formed MORE and started gathering regularly.

Beginning in the spring, MORE hopes to sponsor a community art project and some diversity-training sessions with the University of Mary Washington, which already has a diversity committee.

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Date published: 10/15/2005