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NEWS RELEASE

September 9, 2008

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Human Rights Commission Invites All Students to Participate in Poster Contest for Fair Housing Month

ELLICOTT CITY, MD – The Human Rights Commission invites all Howard County public and private school students to participate in its Fair Housing Calendar poster contest in support of April as Fair Housing Month. The contest theme this year is Connecting Communities through Fair Housing and the deadline for entries is Friday, October 24 at 4 p.m.

“Children really do understand the concept of fairness,” said Dr. C. Vernon Gray, Howard County Human Rights Administrator and Executive Secretary to the Commission. “We hope this contest will help them learn more about how discrimination in an area as fundamental and basic as housing can impact one’s opportunities and choices in life.”

All entries must be on white, 18” x 24” poster board with a landscape format; portrait formats will be disqualified. The contest theme must be incorporated in the drawing and be at least two inches high. Contestants may use any color medium; however, chalk, collages and the use of glitter are strongly discouraged, as these materials are too fragile for the printing process. On the back, in the upper right hand corner and no bigger than 4” x 6” should be the student’s full name, address, home telephone number and school name.

Twelve posters will be selected and featured in the Commission’s 2009 Fair Housing Calendar and an additional 12 will be showcased in the Fair Housing Poster Showcase during Fair Housing Month in April. The calendar will be distributed free to Howard County officials, winning students nd the general public. First, second and third place winners will be awarded $500, $200 and $100 U.S. Savings Bonds, respectively. Those selected for Honorable Mention receive no monetary prize. The Human Rights Commissioners will judge the posters and selection will be based on those they feel best illustrates this year’s theme.

The Fair Housing Calendar contest began in 1986 under the aegis of the now defunct Community Housing Resource Board, Inc. The Human Rights Commission agreed to assume sponsorship in 1995 and produced its first calendar the following year. The Commission’s aim in sponsoring this contest is for students to learn more about discrimination and its unfairness in the area of housing.

All completed entries can be mailed to or dropped off at the Office of Human Rights, 6751 Columbia Gateway Drive, Suite 239, Columbia, MD 21046. All posters become the property of the Howard County Human Rights Commission and, once submitted, cannot be returned. For more information or the contest rules, visit the County’s homepage www.howardcountymd.gov and look under “What’s New,” or contact Charlotte Beckenstein in the Office of Human Rights at 410-313-6430.