Community Actions- Summer 2025

Sussex County, Delaware

On June 19, 2025, Speak Out Against Hate (SOAH) launched its "hate has no home here" Initiative featuring Senator Lisa Blunt Rochester as the keynote speaker. The message is coming across loud and clear through consistent signage on offices, public buildings, businesses, communities, and places of worship. For more information about SOAH activities, please visit soah-de.org. 

Speak Out Against Hate (SOAH) is a group of Sussex County, Delaware residents from Seaside Jewish Community and Southern Delaware Alliance for Racial Justice (SDARJ) formed in 2023 to combat the rising tide of hate after racial and antisemitic incidents in the Rehoboth Beach and Lewes, DE communities. The group was formed as a collaboration between Jewish and Black community groups, as public-facing officials were not speaking out before incidents were occurring in their community, and has since been reaching out to civic and faith leaders across the state.  

Northport, New York

When you arrive in Port Washington, NY, on the North Shore of Long Island, a clear message is presented on a sign.  "The Art of Belonging" was the theme of the June 2025 art exhibit at the Northport Library Art Gallery presented by Not In Our Town in partnership with Northport Pridefest. It featured artwork created by young artists in grades K-12, with each piece reflecting what "belonging" means to them. Artists' unique pieces were displayed throughout June to foster a strong sense of community, inclusion, and connection among the artists and all of those who experience the exhibit.

Do you have signs of support for NIOT's message in your town? NIOT Northport has spread them across their community.   If you'd like signs in your town, contact NIOT Northport and find out how they did it. Please see more at niotnorthport.org.

Bloomington-Normal, IL

After a hate group posted flyers calling for a neo-Nazi march on August to the local Farmers Market, Not In Our Town Bloomington Normal mobilized to meet with city leaders, and join with a "Say No to Hate " Rally on August 30. The hate group flyer claimed "we have Bloomington's Mayor," which the Mayor said was not true.  NIOT leaders and members went to the Bloomington City Council Meeting on Monday, August 25, urging elected leaders and residents to take the NIOT pledge against intolerance and bigotry.  

NIOT Bloomington-Normal is also co-sponsoring a talk by Nico Lang about the experiences of transgender youth in his book, American Teenager, at the Bloomington Public Library this week.