COUNTYWIDE : Group Will Work Against Civil Unrest

The United Way of Orange County and the County Human Relations Commission are joining forces to form a broad-based community group that will work to prevent the kind of unrest that led to the Los Angeles riots in April.

The group, called Orange County Together, will focus on linking community grass-roots organizations with businesses and high-profile human relations organizations in an effort to evaluate the needs of the increasing ethnic and economic diversity in Orange County.

“There was a lot of reaction from people to the riots in Los Angeles, wondering if the same thing could happen here,” said Becky Esparza, chairwoman of the Human Relations Commission. “There was no real forum for them to express their concerns.”

Esparza said the commission decided there was a need for an organization consisting of representatives from established human relations groups, law enforcement, the corporate sector and concerned residents to evaluate and discuss the state of community relations in Orange County.

With a $100,000 grant from the United Way, Esparza said the new group will spend the next year holding public meetings throughout the county. Esparza said a consultant was recently hired to organize the meetings and structure a plan of action from suggestions offered at those meetings.

“This group is different in that it is looking for input from both the big organizations and the smaller grass-roots groups,” said the group’s consultant, Hector Lopez. “We’re trying to be as inclusive as possible so we can hear from the wide spectrum of people in the county and form a common agenda for human relations.”

Both Lopez and Esparza said that by having a dialogue with as many groups and individuals as possible, Orange County can head off any tensions before they explode into the kind of civil unrest that was experienced in Los Angeles.

“People need to be heard,” Esparza said. “By listening to every voice in Orange County, we can build a better life for everybody.”

The group’s first meeting will be held Thursday at 6 p.m. at the United Way office at 18012 Mitchell Ave. in Irvine.