Starting July 11, Winning entries can be viewed at public venues throughout Palm Beach County
Beginning July 11, the winning posters and essays of the 2008 Fair Housing Student Poster, Essay and DVD Contest will be on display at public venues throughout Palm Beach County. For specific locations and dates of the displays and to view the winning videos, please visit www.pbcgov.com/equalopportunity. The exhibit will run through October 31, 2008.
In April 2008, the Palm Beach County Office of Equal Opportunity (OEO) in conjunction with the Realtors Association of the Palm Beaches held their annual contest in celebration of April being Fair Housing month. This year’s theme recognized the 40th anniversary of the Fair Housing Act of 1968 and was titled “40 years…keeping the dream of Fair Housing.” The goal of the annual contest is to raise public awareness of the federal Fair Housing Law, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, familial status, disability, national origin and gender and encourage fair housing opportunities for all citizens.
The following winners were chosen out of over 300 entries in all categories:
Elementary School Poster
First Place: Luis Flores of Diamond View Elementary School
Second Place: Seanna Harris of South Olive Elementary School
Third Place: Amanda McConnell of Acreage Pines Elementary School
Middle School Poster
First Place: Delisa Johnson of Lantana Middle School
Second Place: Margaret Schuettler of Lantana Middle School
Third Place: Emily McCord of Boca Raton Middle School
Middle School Essay
First Place: Thomas Coates of Wellington Landing Community Middle School
Second Place: Murphy Aucamp of Boca Raton Community Middle School
Third Place: Sydney Polacek of Boca Raton Community Middle School
High School DVD/Video
First Place: Melanie Kabinoff and Sebastian Jones of Park Vista Community High School
Second place: Brittany Johns and Justin Stephens of Park Vista Community High School
Third Place: Audio & Video Students of the Northwood Youth Empowerment Center
The OEO provides coordination of the four civil and human rights programs of Palm Beach County government. These programs include the Equal Employment Opportunity Program, Fair Housing Program, Handicap Accessibility Program, and the Human Relations Camp that provides programs to encourage interracial and intercultural understanding among high school students.
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