In 1995, the Hampton City Council appointed a group of citizens to look at diversity issues within the city.  Two years and several studies and many meetings and forums later, this group, called the Citizens’ Unity Commission I (CUC I), recommended that the city establish an ongoing community-based advisory group to carry this group’s diversity work forward.  As a result, on February 26, 1997, Hampton City Council approved the recommendations and implementation plan for the creation of the Hampton Citizens’ Unity Commission (CUC).  The recommendations and implementation plan called for a two-prong approach to dealing with the diversity issues that were encountered during the research, surveying and public forums conducted under CUC I.  The two-prong approach consisted of a proactive component and a reactive component.  That approach was adopted by City Council thus creating the CUC.

This case study was submitted to the Alliance for Innovation for consideration at the 2010 Transforming Local Government conference.