Start a NIOT Group in Your Town

How to Start a NIOT Group

Learn about WHY THIS MATTERS and the core principles of NIOT.

Watch a five minute excerpt from the original 1995 Not In Our Town Story - the film that launched the movement.

Read and share the ACTION STEPS you can take to stop hate in your community.

Follow Not In Our Town on Facebook and Instagram (#notinourtown).

Get in touch with Not In Our Town.

Visit our map and see if there is already a group started in your area. If so, reach out to the organizer to join.

No group in your area?

Use NIOT's Quickstart Guide to find activities for your group and for guidelines on how to set up your group. Then continue on to step three.

 

Standing up to hate is an ongoing process, not just a response to an incident. When you form a NIOT group, engaging with people you don't know is an essential part of the process.

Find at least five people in your community who want to stand up against hate.

Call on diverse community members, educators and school leaders, city leaders, local businesses, student groups, faith groups.

Reach out to powerful leaders in your community who can leverage mass influence and action.

   

 

Screen a Not In Our Town film with your friends, neighbors, social network, PTA, and/or student or faith group. NIOT Stories of action in the face of hate help one town learn from another. Our films help provide a way for people to convene and open up the discussion about how to stand up to hate together. This event can be a launch pad for your ongoing activity.

Start with one of these films: Waking in Oak Creek, Light in the Darkness, Not In Our Town: Manhattan Beach, or the original Not In Our Town film about Billings, MT (Screening Guides provide advice on how to organize a screening.)

Ask the local newspaper or radio station to publicize the event.

Announce at the beginning that you are forming a NIOT group and give people an introduction to the core principles of NIOT.

After the screening, open a discussion about who is vulnerable to intolerance in the community or at school and plan what you can do next to support your neighbors. Be sure to make the next meeting of your NIOT Group part of the plan.

Need a place to screen the film? Reach out to your local libraries, theaters or community centers to see if they have a screening space.

 

Put your group on the map to connect with others in your city and across the country, and create a Facebook group. Engage with current members of the national Not In Our Town group on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

Contact NIOT with information about your group.

Sign up for the Not In Our Town Newsletter to receive updates and network opportunities.

Contact NIOT for advice: info@niot.org.