A Step for Social Harmony

The Orange County Human Relations Commission has managed again to receive deserved funding from county government. There never should have been a question about the need for the county to provide funds for this important agency, but this week again funding was in doubt.

Supervisor Jim Silva has been banging the drum for cutting off funding for years now. He says the commission does good work but someone else should pony up the money to keep it going. However, a commission operating as a nonprofit agency, which is Silva’s notion, would not have the same clout as a commission with the backing of county government.

Fortunately, three supervisors--Chuck Smith, Todd Spitzer and Tom Wilson--recognized that fact. Their votes will let the county provide $244,000 for the commission in the next fiscal year, less than two-thirds of the commission’s operating costs.

The commission was founded nearly 30 years ago and has done fine work to reduce tensions among ethnic groups and improve relations in an increasingly diverse county. Commission staffers have worked with police in identifying concerns among minorities, instructed high school students about the need to respect others and compiled lists of hate crimes to help cities identify problems.

About two dozen of the county’s 33 cities contribute funds to the commission. Silva is correct in saying cities should contribute more, but the way to make that happens is by jawboning the cities, not by cutting off the county’s funding.

It’s not as if the commission just sits back and counts on government funds. Last year it collected $2 million through its private, nonprofit arm, the Human Relations Council, from corporations, foundations and other sources. That testifies to the private sector’s recognition of the importance of the work of the commission and the council.

All five county supervisors should recognize the necessity for the commission as well. Their predecessors on the Board of Supervisors had their eyes open more than a quarter-century ago when they saw the need for the panel. That need grows each year as the county becomes increasingly diverse and more people of varying backgrounds have to become accustomed to living with and learning from each other.