Civil Rights Team Project

Information about this center is no longer updated. This data was last updated on 11 October 2009.

Phone: 207-626-8800
Website: http://www.state.me.us/ag/crt/crt.htm

Mission

The mission of the Civil Rights Team Project is to increase the safety of high school, middle school and elementary school students and reduce the incidence of bias-motivated harassment and violence in schools.

Description

The Civil Rights Team Project (CRTP) is a school-based preventive program to combat hate violence, prejudice, harassment and bias in the schools. Run through the Office of the Attorney General in the State of Maine, the CRTP builds a collaboration between students, faculty and the community. The collaboration works together to create a safer environment for all students.
Schools that participate in this project receive training for faculty and staff about the purpose of the student-led project, the Civil Rights Act in Maine, and how to reduce the incidence of bias language which too often leads to bias based threats and violence. Additionally, student team members attend yearly trainings through the Attorney General’s office to learn intervention and peer education strategies to decrease intolerance and build an understanding of the Maine Civil Rights Act in the entire school community.
Some of the educational activities that Civil Rights Teams do in their schools range from hosting a Diversity Day to conducting a survey on school safety levels to making sure that their school harassment policy supports all of the categories covered under the Maine Civil Rights Act. Teams also focus on supporting students who are targets of harassment or hurtful behavior.

History

The Civil Rights Act in Maine protects people from experiencing physical force or violence, threat of physical force or violence, or property damage based on their race, color, religion, sex, ancestry, national origin, physical or mental disability or sexual orientation.
Maine’s Attorney General’s office noticed that the Civil Rights Act was being violated by younger and younger people. So, in 1996, the State decided to start a program in the schools that teaches about the Civil Rights Act and that has the ultimate goal of making schools a safer place for all students regardless of their characteristics or identities. The program started small and has now grown to over 200 schools throughout the state.