Community Relations Service

Daryl Borgquist
202/305-2966
www.usdoj.gov/crs

     WASHINGTON, D.C. - The U.S. Department of Justice Community Relations Service (CRS) will sponsor an Arab, Muslim, and Sikh Awareness and Protocol Seminar for law enforcement, local officials, and community leaders at the Tivoli Student Union, Metropolitan State College of Denver, 900 Auraria Parkway, Baerresen Room 320, Auraria Campus, in Denver, Colorado, on Wednesday July 9, 2003, from 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. The morning session and opening remarks are open to the media. The "train-the-trainer" seminar in the afternoon is open to registered participants only.

     CRS National Director Sharee M. Freeman and Dr. Percy Morehouse, Assistant to the President/Director of Equal Opportunity for the Metropolitan State College of Denver will make opening remarks. Cosponsors of the seminar include the Metropolitan State College of Denver, the Office of the U.S. Attorney for the District of Colorado, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the City of Aurora Human Relations Commission, the City of Denver Agency for Human Rights and Community Relations, the City of Pueblo Human Relations Commission, the Colorado Civil Rights Commission, and the Colorado Civil Rights Division.

     This is one of a series of educational "train the trainer" seminars for community leaders, law enforcement, Federal, State, and local officials. "Train the trainer" seminars are sponsored by the Community Relations Service as a continuation of its efforts to address issues affecting Arab, Muslim, and Sikh populations in the aftermath of the September 11 terrorist attacks. Community dialogues, forums, and cultural awareness and protocol seminars sponsored by CRS to assist and educate citizens, officials, and law enforcement about the Arab, Muslim, and Sikh cultures have been effective in defusing racial tensions towards members of those communities. Community representatives from throughout the Southeast Region will be attending the seminar. The cultural awareness presentations will be made by members of the Arab, Muslim, and Sikh communities.

     This is the fifth national seminar of this series. Seminars were held on May 29, 2003 in Reading, Pennsylvania, June 6, 2003 in San Francisco, and June 12 in Sayreville, New Jersey, and June 26 in Miami, Florida.

     CRS is a unique federal agency dedicated to preventing and defusing racial and ethnic conflicts. For more information about the Community Relations Service, a component of the U.S. Department of Justice, see its web site at: www.usdoj.gov/crs.

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