Not In Our Town is a project that uses documentary film, new media, and organizing to stop hate, address bullying, and build safe, inclusive communities.
Not In Our Town is the primary program of The Working Group, an Oakland, California-based nonprofit media production company founded in 1988.
The program set a new standard for television impact, launching screenings and town hall meetings in hundreds of communities nationwide.
For the past 20 years, Not In Our Town has documented hundreds of community response and proactive efforts to prevent hate and address intolerance.
In addition to film making, Not In Our Town plays a direct role with schools and communities by providing hands-on support, tools, training, and coaching.
Not In Our Town has collaborated with other organizations, including the U.S. Department of Justice Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS Office), the National Parent Teacher Association and Facing History and Ourselves.
Public media stations created local content and Not In Our School resources around the film, including WDET, WUSF-TV Tampa, KQED San Francisco, WQED Pittsburgh, KCPT Kansas City, Cleveland Ideastream, NPR, Nashville Public Television, and KPBS San Diego of the Fronteras network.
Lt. Brian Murphy, shot 15 times in the attack, joins the mayor and police chief as they forge new bonds with the Sikh community.
Not In Our Town: Class Actions (2012, 30 min) profiles students and community members who are creating change in the wake of racism, anti-Semitism, and the traumatic consequences of bullying.
University of Mississippi students peacefully confront old divisions and the Ku Klux Klan by turning their backs on hate, hundreds gather on the Indiana University campus to light menorah candles after anti-Semitic attacks on campus, and a massive circle of Southern California high school students break the silence about bullying at school with a loud and united chant, "Not In Our Town."
Psychotherapist Janice Cohn wrote a book, Christmas Menorahs, and play, Paper Candles, detailing the Billings story.
The model rests on several core assumptions, namely that cross-constituency engagement gives everyone a voice and leads to great inclusion; bystander behavior must be addressed and that any single person can become an "upstander" to support victims; and that positive stories can offer solutions and help shift community norms.
The Not In Our Town project has sparked anti-intolerance activity in hundreds of communities in the United States and in other countries including South Africa, Ireland, Czech Republic and Ukraine.
Some notable incidents include: Not In Our Town films have featured creative community responses to hate group rallies and protests.