Support Is Waning for O.C. Rights Agency

A little-known public agency assigned to help foster racial and ethnic harmony in increasingly diverse Orange County now finds itself under attack by officials who question its effectiveness and its need for public funds.

At issue is the Orange County Human Relations Commission, set up in 1971 with a tiny staff to fight intolerance and discrimination. Today, with public and private money, the commission and its nonprofit have a $1.8-million budget, a staff of 22, an office in Santa Ana and a broad agenda.

Although the commission is not well known, “it does a lot of good,” said Leigh Steinberg, the Newport Beach sports agent who is the main benefactor of the commission’s Leigh Steinberg Human Relations Institute, which takes schoolchildren from diverse backgrounds on weeklong camping trips to foster understanding.

“Nothing, in my mind, has a higher priority than encouraging racial harmony,” he said.

But this year, the commission found itself under unusual scrutiny. This spring, it narrowly survived a move by Orange County supervisors to cut the county’s support of $290,000 -- about one-fourth of the agency’s budget. And some cities that help support the commission are dropping out as well.

“Our fellow residents don’t know what we do or its impact on the community,” said Leo Garcia, who sits on the nonprofit’s board of directors. “This group is the best secret in Orange County.”

Under Executive Director Rusty Kennedy, the commission has assisted hate-crime victims and created community programs, including “living-room dialogues,” in which residents discuss color, faith and other differences.

The commission reaches 60,000 high school and elementary students a year in classes, daylong symposiums and overnight mountain retreats promoting racial and ethnic communication.

“These programs are about teaching respect for themselves and respect for people who are different than they are,” Kennedy said. “That helps like a school vaccination, but against the disease of hate.”

One of the commission’s better-known endeavors is its annual report of hate crimes -- both reported and unreported -- and other hate-related incidents throughout the county.

In June, the commission reported a 30% increase in 2004 hate crimes in Orange County, while the state reported a slight decrease for the same period.

Law enforcement officials give the Orange County commission high marks. Recently, the grand jury said it heard testimony from police and other law enforcement officials that concluded that the commission was “often the critical element in dealing with racial, ethnic and religious conflicts.”

As a result, the grand jury in June determined that “it is imperative” that the county continue to sponsor the commission.

But its public support has waned over the years. Economic downturns prompted Kennedy to start a separate nonprofit organization, the Human Relations Council, in 1991.

As a public agency, the commission is restricted in its fundraising. But the nonprofit council receives more than $1 million annually from various sources.

Kennedy said the nonprofit council pays for community programs and salaries for at least 19 employees. By contrast, the commission has three employees including Kennedy. Of the 11-member commission, four are on the council’s board of directors.

James McQueen, who is on the commission’s business advisory board, said he and other commission members believed it was time for a more aggressive fundraising and marketing strategy.

They were surprised, they said, when Supervisors Jim Silva and Chris Norby tried to reduce -- if not eliminate -- funding this year.

Both supervisors said the commission did good work, but Silva wanted to privatize the commission. To help that transition, he proposed, cities that pay dues to the nonprofit on a voluntary basis needed to increase their support.

He said that there were fewer residents in unincorporated areas compared with people living in the county’s cities, but the county paid most of the commission’s budget.

“It’s a money issue,” Silva said. The commission “usually raises about 80% of their budget from private donors, and I feel they would do better than if they stayed with the county.”

Of the county’s 34 cities, 22 paid dues of $1,500 to $5,000 last year. Silva said that was not enough, noting that 12 cities paid nothing.

Although most mayors cited tight budgets that precluded their cities from paying, it’s also a political and philosophical issue for those city councils that have a conservative majority.

Norby said the human relations commission had shown it could raise funds and would be more effective as an “independent advocacy group, 100% privately funded.”

Still, commission members argue that even if the nonprofit raises four times what the commission receives from the county, the commission needs the county’s support to do its job.

Robin S. Toma, board president of the California Assn. of Human Relations Organizations, said that it seemed the supervisors’ attitudes punished the commission for its success.

“It’s ironic that the commission’s fundraising success was being used as part of an argument against continued county funding,” said Toma, who is executive director of the Los Angeles County Commission on Human Relations. “That success should be used to encourage the supervisors to expand funding.”

By contrast, Toma’s agency receives $2.3 million a year. He said that if supervisors cut the budget next year, it would set a dangerous precedent. “There’s no guarantee that private contributions will continue at the same level,” he said.

Statewide, there are more than a dozen county human relations commissions, he said. “It’s a mixed picture financially up and down the state,” Toma said. “Some human relations commissions are struggling, like Orange County’s.”