Alabama Council on Human Relations

                -Committed to equal opportunity, and providing services and advocacy to Alabama children and families in need since 1954

A Bit of History Leading to the Present

Headquartered in Auburn, Alabama, The Alabama Council on Human Relations, Inc. (ACHR) is a state - wide private non-profit organization committed to equality and opportunity for the citizens of Alabama. ACHR was organized as a forum for discussion and action on issues of racial and economic justice and educational opportunity in Alabama.  

As an outgrowth of the Atlanta-based Southern Regional Conference, a civil rights advocacy group, ACHR's efforts were first directed toward voting and school desegregation.  The Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr., who was involved with ACHR in the early years, credited ACHR with performing a vital peacekeeping role during the bus boycott that followed Rosa Park's refusal to give up her seat on a Montgomery bus.

ACHR is a member organization of the Southern Regional Council, the Education Coalition, and the Association for Community Based Education. It works in close cooperation with numerous state and local groups.  It has assisted its member and sister organizations in public education and direct action projects in the areas of education, employment, housing, voter education, legal education and assistance, health and welfare. In all of its activities, the primary commitment of ACHR is the concept of self-direction for poor and minority individuals. 

The members, Board of Directors, and staff of the ACHR represent many economic levels and diverse racial, religious, and educational backgrounds.  They work together virtually unconscious of ethnic differences to serve the needs of clients and to promote the concept of brotherhood.

The goal of ACHR, Inc. continues to be the promotion of programs that will improve economic conditions, educational programs, and racial relationships.  

A Bit About Programs

In 1965 ACHR began one of the first Project Head Start programs in Alabama. Originally housed in basements and churches, the ACHR Head Start program now is housed in three centers in Lee and rural Russell counties. In 1998, ACHR began an Early Head Start program.  These two programs serve over 575 children and their families each year. 

ACHR is noted for innovative programs.  For example, ACHR's Early Head Start program uses a unique multi-age group model which allows the center-based children from the same family to have the same teacher and facilitates children at different stages learning from one another. The program is based on the High/Scope Curriculum Approach adopted for ACHR’s Head Start program over ten years ago, but also uses elements from The Program for Infant/Toddler Caregivers.  ACHR's Head Start and Early Head Start programs feature a unique parent-child activity program to encourage parents to interact with their children and to help the children expand their abilities and skills.  

The ACHR administers a wide variety of other programs in Lee County that have grown from the needs of Head Start families. These include the Community Services Block Grant programs, the Child Care Feeding Program serving day care homes in a four-county area, a WIC program, the Indo-Chinese Refugee Assistance Program, literacy and English as a second language programs, after school and summer child care, low income housing complexes and housing counseling.

Most ACHR programs have eligibility criteria, including an income guideline which varies by program.  ACHR has had a long standing policy that participants in all programs are served, staff are hired, and volunteers accepted without regard to race, color, national origin, gender, age, or disability.

A Bit about Staff

The ACHR has grown from a staff of three to a staff of almost 200 people. It has become a central element in the Lee County community and is becoming more and more involved neighboring in Russell County as well. The ACHR core staff has diverse interests, experience and strengths, a strong educational background, and a long-term commitment to ACHR’s mission. Most coordinator – level staff have been with the program over 20 years and have advanced degrees.

Location

The ACHR offers services at the Darden Center complex in Opelika, Alabama; Boykin Community Center in Auburn, Alabama; and more limited services at the Marian Wright Edelman Center in Hurtsboro, Alabama. ACHR provides some services at its Central Offices in Auburn.

ACHR is headquartered in Auburn, Alabama, a conveniently-located small city in east-central Alabama near the Georgia border.  Auburn is positioned directly off of Interstate 85, and is about an hour's drive from Alabama's capital, Montgomery; about two hours southeast of Birmingham, Alabama; and about a two-hour drive from Atlanta, Georgia.

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