JEFFERSON CITY, MO - This month the Missouri Commission on Human Rights (MCHR) kicks off a poster and essay contest for youths in the St. Louis Promise Zone as part of its continuing public awareness campaign, the Show-Me Fair Housing Awareness Project. Students in the St. Louis metropolitan area are invited to submit an essay or poster expressing the theme, “Fair Housing: Building a Better World.”
The contest and the awareness campaign are funded by an Education and Outreach Initiative (EOI) grant awarded to MCHR by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). Partnering with MCHR on the contest are the University of Missouri Extension St. Louis County Office and Ferguson Youth Initiative (FYI).
Contestants are divided by age groups: Group 1 (poster), kindergarten through third grade; Group 2 (poster), fourth through sixth grade; Group 3 (poster), seventh through twelfth grade; and Group 4 (essay), seventh through twelfth grade.
To be eligible for consideration, poster entries must be delivered and in the possession of FYI at 106 Church Street, Ferguson, Missouri 63135 by 5 p.m. on Friday, September 1, 2017. To be eligible for consideration, essay entries must either be in the possession of FYI at 106 Church Street, Ferguson, Missouri 63135 by 5 p.m. on Friday, September 1, 2017, or be received by FYI via email at info@fyifergyouth.org by 5 p.m. on Friday, September 1, 2017. If submitting an essay entry via email, please include “Fair Housing: Building a Better World” in the subject line. There is no page, margin or line spacing requirement for the essay contest, but entries must be typewritten. For additional information about the contests, contact FYI by email at info@fyifergyouth.org or by phone at 314-749-5379.
The first, second and third place winners of each of the four contest categories will be awarded prizes at a ceremony on Saturday, September 16, 12:30 – 3 p.m. in the gymnasium of the Ferguson Community Center, 1050 Smith Avenue, St. Louis. The awards presentation and celebration is free and open to the public, and the community is invited to help recognize the accomplishment of the winning youths.
The 2017 Show-Me Fair Housing Awareness Project is designed to educate Missourians in the St. Louis Promise Zone as well as Dunklin, Mississippi, New Madrid, Pemiscot, Scott and Stoddard counties in the Missouri Bootheel about their rights and obligations under fair housing laws.
"Through the Show-Me Fair Housing Awareness Project, MCHR serves both home seekers and providers by sharing information about fair housing requirements and the benefits of equal housing opportunity,” said Dr. Alisa Warren, MCHR’s Executive Director. “By introducing or reinforcing these principles with the youth in our communities and engaging their visual and verbal creativity, we hope to help secure a future where our nation’s and state’s ideals of fair housing will be increasingly realized.”
MCHR is an independent commission housed in the Missouri Department of Labor and Industrial Relations. It is responsible for enforcing the Missouri Human Rights Act, which prohibits discrimination in employment, housing, and places of public accommodation because of race, color, religion, national origin, ancestry, sex (including sexual harassment and pregnancy), disability and age (in employment only), and familial status (in housing only). For more information about your rights and responsibilities or the MCHR complaint process, visit www.labor.mo.gov/discrimination or call 573-751-3325
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