OneJax, in collaboration with the Jacksonville Human Rights Commission (JHRC) and The Community Foundation in Jacksonville will launch an effort to engage the community in creating sustainable change by discussing and taking action to eliminate racial and ethnic inequities in Jacksonville with Project Breakthrough: A Community Effort to Change the Story of Race.

"The time to develop and actually implement an action plan that will promote positive change in the area of race relations in our city is long overdue," said Bobbie O'Connor, Executive Director of OneJax. "Project Breakthrough provides us with a real opportunity to make this happen. This is a totally different approach to anything that has been done before and I'm very optimistic about the potential it provides to truly change the story of race in our community."

The Project Breakthrough initiative consists of two primary components. The first component includes Jacksonville Days in Dialogue (D.I.D.) to be held periodically throughout the year, along with ongoing study circles-¬both offered by the Jacksonville Human Rights Commission.

The second component is a three and one-half day program, Racial Equity and Society: Dismantling Structural Racism. The program will be convened by OneJax November 5-8, 2008; 25 community leaders will attend.

Confirmed to participate in and endorse this event are: Mayor John Peyton; Sheriff John Rutherford; Chair-elect of the Jacksonville Regional Chamber of Commerce and Sr. Vice President of Blue Cross Blue Shield of Florida, Mike Hightower; Wachovia President, Kelly Madden, former Sheriff Nat Glover and Edward Water's College President, Claudette Williams.

The seminar has been developed and will be facilitated by The Aspen Institute Roundtable on Community Change, an international nonprofit organization dedicated to fostering enlightened leadership and open-minded dialogue since 1950. The Aspen Institute is being funded by The Ford Foundation for this work; the Community Foundation in Jacksonvillle is underwriting the costs associated with convening the seminar.

The overarching objective for Project Breakthrough is dialogue to action. Each component will result in specific, identifiable "next steps" to help move our city closer to unity and understanding.

Project Breakthrough will address race relations by changing individual attitudes, influencing public policy and advocating against institutional inequalities among racial and ethnic groups that appear in education, housing, health care, the justice system, employment, civic engagement and media. The goals of Project Breakthrough are to change the culture of Jacksonville and create an environment where racial harmony, unity and equality can thrive; engage 1,000 community participants within the first year; launch and sustain a media campaign that is designed to foster positive attitudes about the importance and benefits of racial harmony, unity and equality; develop action teams and provide direction and monitoring and sustain initial momentum to facilitate lasting change.