Grantee Partner Spotlight: Not in Our Town

Q2: WHAT IS THE MOST IMPORTANT THING PEOPLE SHOULD KNOW ABOUT YOUR WORK?

Mike Matejka: Since 1995, Not In Our Town Bloomington-Normal has built bridges to recognize and celebrate our diversity. Our purpose is to “stop hate, address bullying and build a safe, inclusive community.” 

NIOT has sponsored seminars, marches, community forums, cultural celebrations and includes an active “Not In Our School” program where our youth identify their concerns and work to create safe and wholesome educational environments. 

In McLean County NIOT is a well known, volunteer organization that actively seeks to partner and recognize our various communities and build common understanding.

Q3: WHO MAKES YOUR WORK POSSIBLE?

Mike Matejka: Since 1995, Not In Our Town has been all volunteer. We have a diverse steering committee and active volunteers who have sustained this effort for over 25 years. We seek to build a positive, community climate and are also responsive when an incident occurs for people to come together to dialogue and heal. Partnerships with the NAACP, the public schools. Moses Montefiore Temple, our local Muslim and Hindu communities and the McLean County Museum of History allow for a broad reach to multiple constituencies.

ANYTHING ELSE YOU’D LIKE TO ADD?

Mike Matejka: We appreciate the [Illinois Humanities] funding for our current project; for over 15 years we’ve done “social justice history walking tours” with the McLean County Museum of History, sharing stories of human rights efforts by actually walking to where those events happened. This has never been documented, so the IHC grant is helping us and the McLean County Museum of History mark these sites and do appropriate background research.