This year marks the 50th anniversary of the U.S. Fair Housing Act, and the Cedar Rapids Civil Rights Commission is looking for student artists’ help in getting the word out.
The commission is holding its fourth annual Fair Housing Poster Contest in honor of Fair Housing Month in April, and K-12 students in Cedar Rapids area schools are invited to submit poster entries. The deadline for submissions is April 16.
The theme is “Fair Housing For All: Building a Better World,” and the posters are meant to show the importance of welcoming of others to local neighborhoods and communities, regardless of race, color, religion, national origin, sex or sexual orientation. Some things for students to consider when designing their poster entry are why it is important to have a world where everyone is accepted, what a world where everyone is accepted would look like, and why it is important to be welcoming toward everyone.
Winning posters will be displayed at various locations throughout the summer such as NewBo market, City Hall, National Czech & Slovak Museum & Library, African American Museum of Iowa, Cedar Rapids Public Library and Cedar Rapids Community School District administration building, before being permanently displayed at the city’s civil rights office. Photos of the winning posters also will be published on the commission’s informational materials such as its annual report, brochures, newsletters and website.
First-place winners will receive $500 toward their postsecondary education through a College Savings Iowa 529 Plan.
Poster entries will be accepted at the commission’s office in the Veterans Memorial Building downtown, 50 Second Ave. Bridge, seventh floor, Cedar Rapids, or at the Cedar Rapids Public Library’s downtown and Ladd locations.
For more information on the contest and to get a contest information packet, go to www.cedar-rapids.org/civilrights. Information packets are available in English, Spanish and Swahili. Contact the office at (319) 286-5036 or civilright@cedar-rapids.org with any questions.
Congress passed the Fair Housing Act in 1968 in response to the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. that year.