TEAM Westport

TEAM Westport has followed three paths to establish its presence in Westport/Weston and to fulfill its mission to achieve and celebrate a more welcoming, multicultural community. § Do it ourselves - Members of TEAM Westport identify the opportunity and design a program or activity to address it. Examples include organizing a series of non-partisan Community Conversations around race and politics tied to the 2008 Presidential Campaign and establishing annual awards for Staples High School graduates who exemplify TEAM Westport's mission. § Work with others - TEAM Westport representatives work with other organizations and institutions to design and execute joint programs and activities. The town's Board of Education committed to working with TEAM Westport in implementing its diversity plans. In 2006, for example, TEAM Westport joined with the Westport Public Library, Westport Country Playhouse, Westport Arts Center and the town's Department of Human Services to develop an innovative three-week series of panel discussions, plays, art exhibits, music and cooking to promote teaching about civil rights issues at Staples High School. TEAM Westport co-sponsors events and community conversations that raise multicultural issues for public discussion. Examples include "talkback" sessions and conversations with the cast at the Westport Country Playhouse and Westport Community Theater, panel discussions at churches and synagogues, and town-wide discussion groups on books with multicultural themes in the Westport Library's annual Westport Reads program. § Work through others - TEAM Westport representatives engage with other organizations and institutions in the community and surrounding areas to identify ways in which those groups might incorporate multiculturalism and diversity in their programming. TEAM Westport serves a resource to government. TEAM Westport has assisted with diversity recruiting and training with the town's Police and Fire departments. Working with the Office of the First Selectman, TEAM Westport helped to develop a process for incident reporting and response. TEAM Westport provided extensive input to the Planning and Zoning Commission as it drafted the current 10-year plan. TEAM Westport speaks regularly with school administrators on issues from curriculum to staff recruiting. TEAM Westport members have spoken in school classrooms, and the Westport Board of Education has incorporated multicultural goals in its planning and goals documents. Working with the leadership of community organizations is one way TEAM Westport reinforces awareness and encourages activity planning that includes multicultural issues. TEAM Westport is in continuing conversations with several organizations, including the Interfaith Council, the Library, the Historical Society and the Parent-Teacher Organization with more planned. TEAM Westport worked with The Council of Churches of Greater Bridgeport in planning and training for leadership for Community Days of Dialogue on the theme, "Toward a More Perfect Union".