After seeing a group of diverse Baha’i youth performing in Kiwanis Park and after the April 1992 “Rodney King Riots”, members of the community began discussing how to make La Grange a better place for all its residents, regardless of race. They then organized the first Unity Rally in September 1992. At about the same time, a group of concerned residents formed the Community Unity Organization, a Neighborhood Watch group with block captains who worked with police to ensure a safer environment for children.

As the activities and missions of the two groups overlapped, in the spring of 1994, the groups joined together as the CommUNITY Diversity Group of La Grange Area.

• An Understanding Racism workshop in January 1993 was attended by a multi-racial group of more than 100 community members, who developed a common vocabulary and comfort level to discuss difficult issues.
• An African American Write Night was held at Lyons Township High School during Black History Month in 1993 and 1994. High school students were paired with community residents and transcribed stories from the residents’ lives.
• A multi-faith worship service was held at St. Francis Xavier Church in January 1994, which included Protestant, Bahái, Catholic, Jewish, Islamic, Buddhist, Jain and American Indian participants, with an ecumenical choir.
• An after-school study program for elementary students, “Kids at Work,” was launched in October 1994 and provided an opportunity for school children to be tutored by peers, get to know each other and work on homework after school.

Besides these specific programs, CDG members developed relationships with governmental organizations for the betterment of the community, including:

• Helping local school districts recruit, hire and support nonwhite faculty and administrators so that the school environment reflects the students’ demographics.
• Assisting school personnel to better understand their students and implement objectives to reflect students’ multicultural backgrounds.
• Nominating candidates of color for trustee, park board and school district offices.
• Meeting with local police to enable greater understanding between residents and police officers.

• 2019: Expanding Our Circle – Enhancing Our Lives began with the screening of A Long Shadow, and became a movie screening and discussion series organized by Becky Lorentzen and Harold Gibson of CDG in collaboration with numerous community organizations.
• 2019-2024: CDG’s Uncomfortable Conversations was a monthly discussion series that started in person and morphed to Zoom during the pandemic.
• 2021: CDG’s Minnie Carr Community Service Award was initiated in September 2021. It is named after Mrs. Minnie Carr, an African American resident of La Grange from the 1930s to the 50s who was a passionate community organizer and devoted teacher. In 1940, Mrs. Carr created the first annual neighborhood children’s parade in La Grange, where children decorated their doll buggies, wagons and bikes and marched through the village. In 1942, she became Director of the Eastside Community Center and taught piano, crafts and Bible Class to children. Mrs. Carr is a prime example of how one person can make a lasting impression on a community, and CDG is proud to remember her legacy when naming its annual recipient of the award as an individual or organization that embodies Mrs. Carr’s legacy of tireless devotion to the community.
• Tweens In Engineering: Two past recipients of scholarships (Bianca Dimalig and Juliette Lopez) were inspired to give back to the community after attending an Engineering Camp. While in high school, they led a “Tweens in Engineering” Program for ten 4th through 6th graders as part of the Caring Place After School Program in the fall of 2018 through fall of 2019. They led the children in hands-on engineering projects such as building an elevator from a box and a projection device with popsicle sticks and a clothes pin. Scholarships were funded by area churches (and a presentation they made at the “All Together Under the Sun” program during “Endless Summer” in August 2019).
• Juneteenth Celebration – CDG collaborated with the Sisters of St. Joseph to hold Juneteenth Celebrations in June 2022 and 2023. Juneteenth Celebrations in La Grange are now organized by Laced Up Athletics and other organizations, and CDG helps by promoting the event.
• African Americans in Early La Grange Self-Guided Walking Tour