Orange County Human Relations Council
Programs and results
What we aim to solve
Our programs
What are the organization's current programs, how do they measure success, and who do the programs serve?
Community Building Program
OC Human Relations'
Community Building Program collaborates with diverse organizations,
institutions and community leaders to build understanding and respect, develop
diverse leaders, advocate for justice and build community capacity.Specific Programs include: Community Dialogues, Listening Sessions, Hate Crime Education and Response, Human Relations Education/Training, Community Capacity Building, Advocacy and Resident and Parent Leadership Development. We develop diverse community leaders who learn to engage in important decision-making processes with institutions that affect their lives. Residents become empowered to address human relations issues in their communities. We lead community dialogues and circles, education programs, advocacy work, capacity-building, and leadership programming. We also customize human relations trainings upon request.
BRIDGES School Intergroup Relations and Violence Prevention Program
BRIDGES develops a diverse group of students into leaders who have the skills, knowledge and tools to create, advocate for and sustain a safe, inclusive school environment where all students feel welcomed, are treated with respect and can succeed academically. OC Human Relations staff are at school sites for the whole school year to train and coach students, teachers and parents in skills such as facilitation, conflict resolution and the foundations of human relations including empathy, respect for differences through personal connections and dialogue, and opens up communication on a variety of topics such as bullying, name calling and school violence BRIDGES works throughout the school year to empower students, teachers and administrators to sustain a more positive, safe and inclusive campus.Teachers are introduced to a variety of classroom materials, curriculum and lesson plans. Students are empowered to take action through positive leadership roles, public speaking and project organizing. In addition, each school is asked to commit to the BRIDGES program for a minimum of three years in order to see changes in the school climate integrated into the school’s culture.Within the BRIDGES Programs, we recently launched the Restorative Practices for Schools Programs that seeks to address the ineffectiveness and disproportionality that arises in more traditional school discipline systems by bringing a Restorative Justice perspective to the school setting. This project improves school climate by collaboratively working with school community stakeholders to embed Restorative Practices (a combination of community-building and restorative justice techniques).
Dispute Resolution Program
The Dispute Resolution Program provides a broad spectrum of mediation, conciliation, negotiation and facilitated dialogue programs to resolve conflicts. The mediation programs offer a positive approach and utilize dialogue as an alternative to violence and litigation. We can help resolve neighbor-to-neighbor, landlord-tenant, employer-employee, child custody, divorce, and small claims conflicts. We train and certify court, community, family law, and youth mediators, many of whom become volunteers/interns. We provide 32 hour state certified basic mediation training as well as advanced mediation training and internships. Mediation services are offered free of charge to low-income residents.
Where we work
Awards
External reviews

Photos
Our Sustainable Development Goals
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Goals & Strategy
Learn about the organization's key goals, strategies, capabilities, and progress.
Charting impact
Four powerful questions that require reflection about what really matters - results.
What is the organization aiming to accomplish?
Create safe, inclusive school climates respectful of ALL people by reaching 30,000 students in our BRIDGES Program annually.
Use mediation, reconciliation and restorative practices to resolve 2,000 disputes and teach 500 people in mediation and restorative practices annually.
Build community by promoting respect and understanding among diverse residents, teaching community engagement, responding to hate crime, facilitating Listening Sessions and dialogues, and building low-income community capacity.
What are the organization's key strategies for making this happen?
Building trust relationships with diverse residents and institutions.
Assist individuals, schools and cities develop meaningful opportunities for resident engagement.
Develop engaging trainings to empower residents to have a voice in the decision-making process.
Facilitate restorative circles in schools and communities.
Mentor diverse youth leaders to become positive voices for safe, inclusive schools.
Conduct Listening Sessions in diverse communities to hear and understand their narratives and then share those stories with the broader community.
What are the organization's capabilities for doing this?
45 year history of bringing diverse people together around shared interests.
Deep experience in facilitating dialogue, restorative practices in schools and communities, and resolving complex community conflicts.
Able to work in crisis community conflicts to build a path forward to understand the underlying issues, learn best practices, and suggest proactive steps to build more inclusive and effective communities.
We reach over 25,000 students annually and engage them around being advocates for safe, inclusive school climates, developing their leadership skills.
Our programs are targeted for ALL students, not just the "best and brightest". Understanding the importance of uplifting ALL students.
What have they accomplished so far and what's next?
In Fiscal Year 2014-15 OC Human Relations:
Engaged 25,017 students, teachers, administrators and parents in BRIDGES safe school climate program with restorative practices;
Documented and responded to 40 hate crimes.
Mediated 2,106 cases with a 66% success rate involving 4,551 people.
Conducted 30 police/community reconciliation cases.
Honored diverse community leaders at AWARDS 44 with 500 attendees.
Graduated 56 low-income, immigrant parents from our 7 week Parent Leadership Institutes.
Led 102 Restorative Justice circles with students, educators and families in school settings.
Financials
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Operations
The people, governance practices, and partners that make the organization tick.
Connect with nonprofit leaders
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Connect with nonprofit leaders
SubscribeBuild relationships with key people who manage and lead nonprofit organizations with GuideStar Pro. Try a low commitment monthly plan today.
- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
- Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools
- Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations
Want to see how you can enhance your nonprofit research and unlock more insights? Learn More about GuideStar Pro.
Orange County Human Relations Council
Board of directorsas of 12/18/2021
Mrs. Susan Reese
Ms. Rev. Karen Stoyanoff
Jim McQueen
McQueen & Ashman LLP
Susan Reese
Susan S. Reese Design
Alison Edwards
OC Human Relations
Gurpreet Singh Ahuja
Children's Hospital
Ken Inouye
Inouye, Shively & Longtin
Minzah Malik
Hoag Hospital Community Medicine
Frank Marmolejo
Irvine Valley College (Ret.) and Historian
Bill Wood
PacifiCare Health System
Christian Lopez
Student
Destiny Lopez
Student
Karen Stoyanoff
Unitarian Universalist Curch
Simei Yeh
Ajit Singh Thind
Christopher Garcia
Adriana Collins
UCI, School of Nursing
Gigi Elmasry
Orange County's Credit Union
Rebecca Esparza
Community Volunteer
Sumita Furlong
UCI, Office of the Vice Chancellor, Student Affairs
Board leadership practices
GuideStar worked with BoardSource, the national leader in nonprofit board leadership and governance, to create this section.
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Board orientation and education
Does the board conduct a formal orientation for new board members and require all board members to sign a written agreement regarding their roles, responsibilities, and expectations? Yes -
CEO oversight
Has the board conducted a formal, written assessment of the chief executive within the past year ? Yes -
Ethics and transparency
Have the board and senior staff reviewed the conflict-of-interest policy and completed and signed disclosure statements in the past year? Yes -
Board composition
Does the board ensure an inclusive board member recruitment process that results in diversity of thought and leadership? Yes -
Board performance
Has the board conducted a formal, written self-assessment of its performance within the past three years? Yes
Organizational demographics
Who works and leads organizations that serve our diverse communities? GuideStar partnered on this section with CHANGE Philanthropy and Equity in the Center.
Leadership
The organization's leader identifies as:
Race & ethnicity
Gender identity
No data
No data
Sexual orientation
No data