Local Group: How To

CREATE A LOCAL HATE HAS NO HOME HERE INITIATIVE!

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Hate Has No Home Here – Glenside

WHY DO THIS AS A COMMUNITY/NEIGHBORHOOD?

The original North Park Neighborhood group made the decision to encourage local neighborhoods to print and distribute their own posters/signs when we realized that working together in our neighborhood and meeting each other during sign distribution was as important or more so than producing these signs. Creating dialogue and new local relationships is really what makes this effort meaningful and lasting beyond the signs. Other communities that have decided to participate in this way have echoed these sentiments.

TIPS FOR STARTING A LOCAL EFFORT

What do I need?

Friends and neighbors to help out. You could do it by yourself, but this is going to be easier if you join forces with others.

A way to communicate and gauge interest. Some groups have used a Facebook page or website, others have used sign up sheets on a clipboard and email lists.

Funds to pay for printing the signs/posters. Groups have approached this differently, from self-funding to soliciting donations through online services like Go Fund Me. Whatever you decide to do, there are a few things to keep in mind:

  • Hate Has No Home Here has a few conditions for using our free artwork and it’s important to read those.
  • While we fully support crowdfunding the printing of signs/posters, we don’t support our artwork being used as a fundraiser to benefit any organization… non-profit, for-profit, church, business. If you raise more funds than you need for printing that first run of posters/signs, you can either print more for free distribution or kickstart an effort for another community to obtain signs/posters. If you need assistance with finding communities who need some kickstart help, let us know.
  • These posters/signs are non-partisan. Anyone anywhere should have access to sharing the message of Hate Has No Home Here and demonstrating that they stand against hateful speech and hateful actions.
  • We encourage groups to not make donations required for receiving a poster/sign, and to encourage donations instead. This makes the posters/signs available to as many people as possible.
  • Hate Has No Home Here is not affiliated with any 501c3 or non-profit group. Any donations made to cover printing of signs are NOT tax-deductible.

Personalizing the artwork to reflect your community. While Hate Has No Home Here does not permit the alteration of our artwork (cannot add another logo or change the colors, for example), you can request languages that more closely represent the most common languages spoken in your community. We work with a professional translation service to source and confirm translations, and try to honor requests when we can.

Strategy for distribution of the posters/signs. There are a lot of options for distribution of posters/signs. You can have neighbors sign up for a poster/sign and deliver door-to-door. You can host a “pop up” event at someone’s home or at a local coffee shop, and invite neighbors to come take signs/posters. You can partner with your local library or other community gathering places to keep an inventory of signs/posters for distribution.

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What else do I need to know?

The Hate Has No Home Here Map: If you want us to amplify your group’s efforts in social media and help you to get the word out…let us know. We can add you to the map.

We have artwork for signs and posters, and we also offer artwork for bumper stickers, square/round stickers, buttons, door hangers* and window clings if you would rather distribute something smaller.

Need support or have more questions? If you are setting up a Local Campaign, send us a message on our Facebook page or an email at HHNHHChicago (at) gmail (dot) com. We’ll send you an invite to a group for Local Campaign Leaders where you can share and receive advice/ideas.

BEYOND THE SIGN

Create more connected communities. Use this opportunity to forge and strengthen relationships within your community. Hold a potluck, create a social event, sit in a coffee shop with a sign on your table that encourages others to stop and have a conversation…the possibilities are endless.

Improve your allyship skills.  The work to be done becoming more self-aware and being a better ally to others falls on all of us. There are plenty of excellent online resources to get more information on this. Here are some of them:

* Thanks to HHNHH -Glenside for the great door hanger idea!