Download the NAACP/ACLU report, “Semper Eadem: Always the Same?”:
http://www.aclu-md.org/aPress/Press2009/051909_Somerset.html

Click here to download Somerset County's response to the Task Force Recomendations.

***MEDIA ADVISORY***

Community Task Force to Release Recommendations on Promoting Diversity in Somerset Government

Town Hall Meeting Open to All Somerset County Residents

MEDIA ADVISORY FOR
Thursday, November 12, 2009

CONTACT: Kirkland Hall, Somerset County NAACP, 443-235-8126; kjhall@umes.edu
Meredith Curtis, ACLU of Maryland, 410-889-8555; media@aclu-md.org

PRINCESS ANNE, MD – On Thursday, November 12, the Somerset County Task Force on Diversity, the Somerset County Branch of the NAACP, and the ACLU of Maryland will host a town hall meeting to formally release and discuss recommendations to address serious racial disparities in County government. The Task Force’s recommendations represent important steps Somerset County can take to promote diversity and to overcome long-standing racial disparities in the local government and school system. The meeting will be moderated by Carl O. Snowden, Director of Civil Rights for the Maryland Attorney General.

WHAT: Town hall meeting to formally release and discuss the recommendations of the Somerset County Task Force on Diversity, established in response to a report by the Somerset County NAACP and ACLU of Maryland detailing serious racial disparities in Somerset County government.

WHO: Members of Somerset County Task Force on Diversity; Carl O. Snowden, Director for Civil Rights for the Maryland Attorney General; other Somerset County community leaders. The public is invited to participate in this important discussion.

WHEN: Thursday, November 12, 2009 from 6–8 PM

WHERE: St. James United Methodist Church, 8730 Crisfield Highway/Rt. 413, Westover, MD 21871.

BACKGROUND: Last May, the Somerset County NAACP and ACLU of Maryland released a report, “Semper Eadem: Always the Same?,” examining the demographics of Somerset County government, which revealed troubling disparities between the numbers of African Americans who live in Somerset County, and the number employed in the government and schools there, especially at the upper echelons. In response to that report, and a well-attended town hall meeting held in June, many in the community came together and formed a Task Force on Diversity, to develop a strategy for addressing these disparities. The Task Force held a series of meetings over the summer and early fall, and has now finalized a comprehensive set of recommendations intended to ensure that local government values diversity and that Somerset County is an inclusive and
welcoming place.

###