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Divided Community Project: Cc city Resiliency Initiative — Case S....., 4 <br />Columbus Community Trust: Proactive work to build <br />Trust and Resilience <br />This case study tracks the volunteer -based Columbus Community Trust as it convenes, <br />evolves, develops, and works to implement a structure —a structure which might assist INITIATE <br />the Columbus region to transform community division into forward looking action while <br />planning in advance of civil unrest. The effort, which began in 2015, is convened by <br />attorneys and dispute resolution practitioners. <br />Columbus Community Trust's aim is to make the Columbus metropolitan region more ASSESS <br />resilient by advancing efforts to: <br />• Convene community stakeholders to understand deep community concerns; <br />• Build trust among residents and between leaders and residents; DESIGN <br />• Identify/design processes to deal justly with constituency group concerns; <br />• Prepare the community to respond in resourceful and coordinated ways if an <br />event occurs that challenges trust; and <br />• Develop shared plans for acting in the midst of civil unrest. FORUMS <br />The Trust's work is accomplished through a steering committee and a set of working <br />groups which are further described herein. References to the "Trust" or "CCT" refer to <br />the steering committee. The Trust's work is based on the Divided Community Project's PLAN IN <br />guidance document, Planning in Advance of Civil Unrest.' <br />ADVANCE <br />INITIATE — A Coalition Emerges for Broad -based Community Planning <br />A diverse group of law -affiliated Columbus community leaders initiated what would <br />become the Columbus Community Trust. Nancy Rogers and Josh Stulberg, two NEXT STEPS <br />faculty from the Divided Community Project, housed at The Ohio State University's <br />Moritz College of Law began building momentum for the idea in the summer of 2015. <br />Leveraging Divided Community Project guidance, Rogers and Stulberg reached out <br />to leaders who might support a planning process which would build community trust <br />and resilience: Carter Stewart, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of <br />Ohio; and, Carl Smallwood a respected local attorney who — among other initiatives — <br />spearheaded an effort to combat statistics illustrating significant disparity between the <br />number of minority and white attorneys at larger law firms. <br />With Stewart's blessing, Rogers, Stulberg, and Smallwood met with the John Mercer <br />Langston Bar Association (JMLBA) and Columbus Bar Association (CBA) leadership on <br />a number of occasions in late 2015 and early 2016. Smallwood explained bar leaders <br />ultimately decided to "step up" and recognize there are residents whose rights are <br />not being addressed and who are not being heard. JMLBA (a minority bar associated <br />affiliated with the National Bar Association) supported the idea of the Trust because <br />members knew and trusted Smallwood and Rogers. <br />THE OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY ®L.OU,NDATIONr' <br />MORITZ COLLEGE OF LAW <br />