Chapel Hill and Carrboro Human Rights Center

Introduction

The Chapel Hill and Carrboro Human Rights Center (HRC) is a non-profit organization located at Abbey Court in Carrboro, North Carolina. It was established February 11, 2009 by a University of North Carolina sociology professor, Judith Blau.
The Human Rights Center provides Abbey Court residents with an after-school program, youth soccer, ESL and computer literacy programs, nutrition and yoga classes, festivals advocacy, promoting food securing and nondiscriminatory housing practices.
Technology Without Borders, a committee of the Campus YMCA, assists the HRC by providing free wireless Internet service in Abbey Court.
Core Missions
The Human Rights Center has five core missions:
# To promote inter-cultural understanding and peoples’ full recognition of the dignity and fundamental rights of the others—across the many lines that divide us; race, ethnicity, class, nationality, religion.
# To be advocates and provide resources for those who suffer exploitation and abuses of power and greed. Our neighbors in Abbey Court suffer such exploitation and abuses, we will not be silent.
# To provide opportunities for college students in courses that highlight experiential learning. These include courses on human rights but also courses on immigration, poverty, and inequality.
# To work with community organizations and local residents to combat poverty, racism, exclusion, abuse of workers and tenants, sexism, xenophobia, and homophobia in the broader communities of Chapel Hill and Carrboro.
# To promote awareness of the significance of human rights among residents of Chapel Hill & Carrboro.
Farmer Foodshare
The HRC collaborates with the local Carrboro Famers Market, Farmer Foodshare to provide healthy, locally grown food options for the families at Abbey Court. Every Saturday, HRC volunteers and directors attend the Farmers Market to collect food for their food distribution. UNC Students volunteer to help distribute food to any families who stop by.
Day Laborers and Anti-Lingering Ordinance
Following complaints from local residents, in 2007 the Carrboro Board of Alderman approved an ordinance that prohibited local day laborers from seeking work on the Corner of Jones Ferry and Davie Roads. Many of these day laborers are residents of Abbey Court and often use the services provided by the HRC. Neighbors had submitted complaints about public drunkenness, urination, and harassment. The ordinance prohibited workers from standing on the corner between the hours of 11 a.m. and 5 a.m.
In October 2010, the HRC was central in introducing alternate plans a procedures to dispel concerns and disagreements about day laborers in [.

In November 2011, after four years of arguing over the constitutionality of the ordinance, the Carrboro Board of Alderman voted unanimously to repeal the ordinance. They also voted to pursue a partnership with the Chapel Hill and Carrboro Human Rights Center to put a full-time staff person in place to help the laborers and mediate issues with the neighborhood.
Fight to Stay Open
In November 2009, organizers attempted to organize a Human Rights Day in Chapel Hill, but the event failed, due to projected lack of attendance.
That same month, the Center's "big sister organization," El Centro Latino, closed its doors due to a decrease in donations and grants.
In November 2011, the Abbey Court Homeowner’s Association began discussions about the possibility of asking the HRC to leave the complex citing liability issues and concerns that a commercial property was being operated in a building zoned as residential.
On Thursday December 1, 2011, the HOA and owner of the property voted to force the HRC from Abbey Court. The HRC has until March 1, 2012 to move out of the two units they own. On Saturday, December 3, 2011 nearly 150 people marched peacefully in support of the Human Rights Center. Members of the local Occupy Chapel Hill Movement as well as HRC volunteers and residents of Abbey Court joined together to make the march happen.
Judith Blau, director of the HRC and UNC professor, is now working with Carrboro Mayor Mark Chilton to find a house located near Abbey Court to continue providing and possibly expanding the programs they currently offer. The HRC is hoping to add a workers’ center to their new location where day laborers can wait for work and seek help for employment issues including wage theft.
The HRC will sell the two units it currently occupies in Abbey Court to help pay for a new location.

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