About Unity in DiverCity

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Partners, Sponsors, and Community Groups

About Unity in DiverCity ^©

Unity in DiverCity is a community action project based in Muncie, Indiana that was created for a singular purpose: to promote unity and diversity in American communities through dialogue, by organizing city-wide festivals that celebrate the ethnic, racial, and cultural diversity of those cities. We take a broad view of diversity, seeing culture as including not only race and ethnicity, but also nationality, language, gender, (dis)ability, sexuality, religion, social class, and region. The goals of Unity in DiverCity are fourfold:

* To promote cultural awareness and education;

* To improve race relations;

* To bring the entire community together and involve people of all ages; and

* To celebrate our unity and diversity by focusing on the roots and heritage of the peoples of an American city.

The DiverCity Group began as a Study Circle on Race, and Unity in DiverCity began as a Study Circle community action project. Since then, we have grown to become a nation-wide effort to use the experiences of one Midwestern city and the World Wide Web as a tool to promote diversity-related dialogue across the United States.

The values of Unity in DiverCity are straightforward:

* Diversity includes all kinds of cultures – not just race and ethnicity.

* Intergroup contact can help foster harmony between different groups, but by itself, it is not enough.

* Dialogue, when respectful, genuine, and heard, is the key to fostering harmony among different cultural groups.

* The best way to promote dialogue is to listen.

* A good way of teaching others about your culture – and learning about the cultures of others – is to show others (not just tell them) the unique qualities your culture involves.

* Everyone loves a good party (or festival)!

The vision that is Unity in DiverCity emerged from the DiverCity Group, a nonprofit community group based in Muncie, Indiana. Unity in DiverCity emerged in response to negative events in Muncie such as a heated debate between the business and African American communities in Muncie over the renaming of Broadway St. to Martin Luther King Blvd., racial slurs shouted at African Americans on the campus of Muncie’s Ball State University, and Muncie’s reputation as a “racist” city, but also in response to positive events such as the founding of the Martin Luther King Jr. Institute, the dialogues sponsored by the 1859 Forum for Community Conversations, The Star Press’s annual diversity fair, the international cultural diversity of Ball State, and the many Muncie organizations doing diversity-related work. Sponsored primarily by The DiverCity Group, a small, non-profit community group, Unity in DiverCity merges these previous efforts with “grass roots” community action to promote unity in diversity through dialogue and ethnic, racial, and cultural experiences.

Our first annual cultural festival was Unity in DiverCity 2005: Roots and Heritage. Our second annual cultural festival, Unity in DiverCity 2006: The Many Faces of Culture, is currently being planned. Both of these festivals were in Muncie, Indiana. We hope to make this an ongoing annual event, and are using this festival to create a Unity in DiverCity Handbook, which will be made freely available online to whomever wishes to organize a city-wide diversity festival in their own city.

About the DiverCity Group

© The name Unity in DiverCity^©, this website, and all images and text contained herein are copyright © 2004 by the DiverCity Group^©, Muncie, Indiana. All rights reserved. Unless otherwise indicated, you may not use any material from this website without expressed written permission from us.

“Diversity is the one true thing we all have in common.

Celebrate it every day.”

– Anonymous

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DiverCity Organizational Structure