Caroline Tu Farley is a founding member of the Ft. Collins Not In Our Town Alliance (NIOTA). Since the founding in 2005 she has worked in several capacities with the organization, continuing to promote diversity and inclusion in the Ft. Collins community. She started the NIOTA book club in 2009, which is a monthly community group that reads and discusses books from a diversity angle. Caroline serves on the NIOTA Council as Prevention Team Leader and was instrumental in the selection of NIOTA as the best nonprofit in Colorado working with diversity from the Colorado Gay & Lesbian Fund.
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The Fort Collins Not In Our Town Alliance was honored with a 2010 Advancing Equality Award from the Gay & Lesbian Fund of Colorado. Though the organization received 40 nominations from across the state, Fort Collins NIOTA nabbed the award for Outstanding Nonprofit Organization.
The awards, according to Tonya Ewers, are “really meant to uncover organizations and people in Colorado who are doing wonderful things in the community for equality” and their overall goal is to “create a more equal Colorado and a better place for everyone.” The fund is a program of the Gill Foundation.
At the December award dinner, the Gay & Lesbian Fund used this language to explain why the Fort Collins NIOTA was selected as a their Outstanding Nonprofit Organization:
Fort Collins, CO: How do you open up a conversation about challenging issues in your town? The Not In Our Town Alliance in Fort Collins formed a book club dedicated to exploring issues of acceptance and inclusion in their community.
This winter, Mayor Doug Hutchinson led a discussion of The Tortilla Curtain, which was chosen to generate discussion about immigration issues.
Here’s the latest installment of “Where in the World is NIOT Now?” featuring notable news from Not In Our Town groups, and updates about “Not In Our Town” film screenings across the country.
Fort Collins, Colorado: Reflecting on the rise of hate speech in public discourse, Not In Our Town Alliance member Charlotte Miller wrote a letter to the editor of The Coloradoan, urging residents to stand up and speak out against intolerance:
“We must speak out against hateful speech and propaganda filled with untruths about people who are different in racial, ethnic, religious identity, as well as language use and political beliefs. If you hear someone saying discriminatory or derogatory things about those who differ from them, please speak up and let them know you disagree with them, and discrimination is not OK.”
Medford, Oregon: In response to recent neo-Nazi activity and last year’s burning of “KKK” on a biracial couple’s lawn, community groups from across Medford and Ashland, Oregon held a tolerance forum and “Not In Our Town” orientation.