The year 2020 was filled with confusion and civil unrest inspired. This inspired Dearborn Heights resident Latanya Gater to invoke change within her own community. Ms. Gater, who has been a Dearborn Heights resident for seven years, begin going to city council meetings. . She attended with the intent to listen to her community. It was also important to her to listen to all people and be compassionate about their experiences because being willing to accept knowledge from others without being defensive and guarded and instead being open and receptive is a part of the journey to understanding each other.

After her assessments of the meetings, she spoke clearly and freely on her own experiences that she'd encountered while living in Dearborn Heights. She expressed to the late Mayor Dan Paletko that she felt the need to "do something in her city to increase public safety and other matters for people of color. He suggested reintroducing the Community Cultural Relations Commission. The effort started off rocky. Ms. Gater struggled to recruit people to be on the commission and keep them on board after recruitment. Regardless, she was persistent and in no time with her as Chairwoman, Leslie Windless as Secretary, Councilman Mo Baydoun as Vice- Chairperson, Gary Barkoff, Sadie Ziembowicz, Dewyna Bazzi and Heather Nicholson-Bester as Board Members, they created a dream team. Gater says, " the team is to "bring about progressive change in the community".

Their first task was to create events to get their name out in the community in efforts to gain support as well as raise funding. They've recently sent out sponsorship letters to various community members, businesses and individuals to fund their projects. At this time the Community Cultural Relations Commission is still advocating for a budget from the city of Dearborn Heights to continue and improve upon its works. They are also requesting ideas to bring about educational change regarding cultural awareness, So far they've received a total of five sponsorships for funding. The board has collectively made it a priority to raise the funds on their own if there was anything else they needed.

Although time consuming, the commission never regrets their acts of dedication and is glad to do anything necessary to better their community and the progression of the commission. Ms. Gater says, "One of my favorite parts of being on the commission is being able to connect with people who have a thirst for learning while coming authentically and respectfully".

Ms. Gater is also on the District 7 School Board. She notices that most of the zeal for knowledge and change comes from the younger generations. ".However, for the commission to continue thriving, it needs the full and ongoing support from all of the Dearborn Heights Citizens." .

In the future the Commission hopes to execute many different events. One event will be to hold student-led art projects at schools within District 7. The art will be highlighted on the city's homepage. ( Welcome to Dearborn Heights (dearborn-heights.mi.us) ). Furthermore she wants more student engagement in one of her personal favorite events, the annual Juneteenth Celebration. The 2020 Juneteenth celebration was very significant not only because it was the first, but because that year it was declared a federal holiday. In their first year during a worldwide pandemic the commission was able to successfully honor Dearborn Heights Women In Leadership, who've done outstanding community service for the city, create gift baskets for children with autism during Autism Awareness Month and much more. These contributions to the community speak to the Community Cultural Relation Commission of Dearborn Heights' willingness to spread love and light within their community.

To become a part of the change, you can receive contact information on the commission's 2022 calendar ( Welcome to Dearborn Heights (dearborn-heights.mi.us) as well as their Instagram and FaceBook pages.

Youth celebrate 1st Juneteenth event in Dearborn Heights

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