Governor Chris Sununu’s Advisory Council on Diversity and Inclusion will hold its first public listening session Wednesday, March 21, from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. in the Granite Room on UNH’s Durham Campus.
Diversity Council Chair and Seacoast NAACP President Rogers Johnson says snow or not, the council will proceed with the forum. Johnson says Durham was an obvious first location for the session because of several racially charged incidents that took place in the area and on the UNH campus last year.
Johnson says the format of the forum will allow participants to provide input in front of a large group, in smaller groups or anonymously via a computer that will be on hand.
“It affords anyone, everyone, an opportunity to tell their story in a way that they feel most comfortable,” Johnson says.
The end-goal is to take this information back to the Governor in the hopes it can guide policy and legislation, according to Johnson.
“We will be back to communities at some point in the near future to tell them what we heard, [and] what our proposals may be,” says Johnson.
The Council plans to hold a series of other listening sessions across the state, with the next forum tentatively scheduled for the week of April 9 in Portsmouth.
