Campaign highlights Dayton’s diversity through video series

A new project launched this week aims to promote Dayton Human Relations Council’s mission and give a platform to Dayton residents to have their stories heard.

The Dayton Human Relations Council launched the “Many People. Many Voices. One City.” campaign on Monday when it released the first of a series of Daytonians' testimonial videos.

The campaign seeks to not only reintroduce the vision, mission, and values of the HRC, but also to underscore the importance of building community pride and a welcoming and inclusive city for the many different people and voices that call Dayton home, according to a HRC release.

For almost six decades, HRC has been working to enforce Dayton’s anti-discrimination ordinances and, as part of that mission, working to create a culture of fair treatment, inclusion and equal access opportunities throughout the city.

Often times, HRC works behind the scenes and its efforts are not always visible to the public. Part of the campaign’s purpose is to highlight the value of HRC’s work — especially during times of social change and activism.

“Especially in light of what’s going on, not only nationally but locally, some of the events that have challenged diversity, inclusion and racial equity, we really wanted to put a spotlight on Dayton, and some of the things that are going on here locally to address issues of racial and social injustice, and you know, the value of the HRC,” said Erica Fields, HRC executive director.

Each one to two-minute vignette, to be featured bi-weekly on social media and YouTube, will open with a message from the HRC Executive Director, highlight photography of the many sights and places within Dayton, and end with information about how to get involved and be a part of the campaign.

Dayton can follow the campaign, running through Nov. 23, and the stories shared along the way by following HRC on Dayton Human Relations Council’s Facebook page.

“We really wanted to create a way to allow folks to share how they’re feeling, how this has impacted them, but (also) why the vision statement is so incredibly important especially now," Fields said. "Highlighting and elevating the voices of folks who sometimes typically you know aren’t at the table aren’t represented are sometimes marginalized, we wanted to provide a platform for them to do that — share their experiences … and really just highlight the diversity of thought that Dayton has.”

Shirts will be available free of charge at the HRC for the remainder of 2020.

For more information, please contact the HRC at 937-333-1400.

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