MILWAUKEE – Hours Against Hate, an initiative to stop bigotry, is offering grants of up to $500 to local teachers, school administrators and even students.
Hours Against Hate, a program of Milwaukee Jewish Federation, seeks to encourage people to put time towards promoting respect across lines of culture, religion, race, tradition, class, sexual orientation and gender.
Public and private school staff – or even a student acting in concert with staff – can apply for the grants of up to $500 to pay for speakers, bus trips, or other activities. Use of the cash could include bringing in a speaker on diversity or paying for a bus trip so students can visit another school for a day.
“It doesn’t have to be an hour. It’s, ‘let’s get a group of people together’,” said Hours Against Hate Coordinator Andrea Bernstein. “It can look a number of different ways.”
Hours Against Hate is accepting applications for grants, called the Hours Against Hate Schools Mini-Grants, on a rolling basis until Dec. 31 or until funding runs out. More information and an application form are at HoursAgainstHate.com.
“Learning how to engage with people who come from a different background is a life skill,” Bernstein said. “It would be a great learning experience for a student to learn the process of applying for a grant.”
Other initiatives
Hours Against Hate is launching a speakers bureau page on its website. The site may go live as the October Chronicle goes to press, or soon thereafter.
Users will be able to select speakers on diversity and combating hate.
On Aug. 2, Hours Against Hate held a lunch for 60 educators from throughout Southeast Wisconsin. Panelists discussed how to engage students across lines of difference and why it’s important.
Teachers sat down at tables at the Intercontinental Hotel, adorned with framed, written questions to provoke thought and dialogue, including this one: “Have you ever been the only one?”